Dow Loses 9.07 to End Its Worst Week of Year

The stock market closed out its worst week of the year with a moderate decline Friday amid uncertainty over chances for a revival of economic growth.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials fell 9.07 to 1,320.79, extending its loss for the week to 32.26 points. The last time the average showed a bigger weekly loss was Sept. 17-21, 1984, when it dropped 35.78 points.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange slowed to 81.75 million shares from 102.87 million Thursday.

Investors showed some enthusiasm for stocks Thursday as the Treasury completed a three-day, $21.75-billion sale of bonds and notes. The auction drew a better response than some observers had expected.

But analysts said there were still widespread doubts on Wall Street that interest rates could go much lower in the near future.

Little Hard Evidence

Without a drop in rates, many Wall Streeters believe, economic growth and corporate profits must show some significant improvement if stocks are to resume the rally that ran from early May to mid-July. Hard evidence of any such development is scarce.

Trans World Airlines climbed 1/2 to 22 1/2 in active trading. Texas Air raised its offer to acquire the company to $26 a share in cash and securities, seeking to outbid financier Carl C. Icahn, who already owns more than 45% of TWA’s stock. Icahn said he might increase his investment in TWA.

An employee group has said it is also readying an offer for control of the company.

Pan Am, which has also been discussed as a possible takeover candidate, was the volume leader on the Big Board, unchanged at 8 1/8 on turnover of more than 3 million shares.

Losers among the blue chips included General Motors, down 1 1/8 at 69; Du Pont, down 2 at 58; General Electric, down 1/2 at 61 5/8, and International Business Machines, off 1 at 127 3/8.

Precious metals issues were mostly higher as the price of gold jumped $6.50 an ounce to $328.50 on the Commodity Exchange in New York. Homestake Mining gained 5/8 to 27 1/8, Campbell Red Lake Mines rose 5/8 to 23 7/8 and Dome Mines gained to 8 5/8. ASA Ltd. was unchanged at 45.

Loews Corp., which reported sharply higher quarterly earnings Thursday, rose 1 1/8 to 49 5/8.

Large blocks of 10,000 or more shares traded on the NYSE totaled 1,514, compared to 2,068 on Thursday.

In the daily tally on the Big Board, about four issues declined in price for every three that gained ground.

Nationwide turnover in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 100.12 million shares.

Kaufman’s View

Among closely watched indicators, the Big Board’s composite index dropped 0.34 to 109.06; Standard & Poor’s index of 400 industrials fell 0.79 to 209.43, while S&P;’s 500-stock composite index was down 0.63 at 188.32; NASDAQ’s composite OTC index rose 0.42 to 299.14; the American Stock Exchange’s market-value index closed at 232.58, up 0.08, and the Wilshire index of 5,000 equities closed at 1,948.860, down 5.425.

Bond prices posted moderate gains.

The upturn in prices came as Henry Kaufman, chief economist of the investment firm Salomon Bros., said the Federal Reserve is unlikely to tighten credit conditions--and drive interest rates higher--because the economy appears to remain sluggish.

Kaufman, whose views are closely followed on Wall Street, said in his weekly credit report that, with the economy “not yet showing any signs of a third-quarter rebound, the Federal Reserve will most probably continue its policy of providing a substantial volume of reserves to the banking system, and an eventual easier monetary stance cannot be entirely ruled out.”

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments rose 4/32 point, intermediate maturities gained 20/32 point and long-term issues were up 13/32 point, Salomon Bros. reported. The movement of a full point is equivalent to a change of $10 in the price of a bond with a $1,000 face value.

The Merrill Lynch daily Treasury index, which measures price movements on all outstanding Treasury issues with maturities of a year or longer, rose 0.44 to 105.78. The Shearson Lehman daily Treasury bond index, which makes a similar measurement, climbed 3.65 to 1,110.39.

Revenue Bonds Up

In corporate trading, industrials rose 3/8 point and utilities gained point in light trading, Salomon Bros. said.

Among tax-exempt municipal bonds, general obligations and revenue bonds edged up 1/8 point in light to moderate activity.

Yields on three-month Treasury bills, meanwhile, slipped 3 basis points to 7.16%. Six-month bills dropped 6 basis points to 7.37%, and one-year bills were off 6 basis points at 7.51%. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Yields on 30-year Treasury bonds dropped to 10.61% from 10.66% late Thursday.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, traded at 7.5%, down from 7.75% late Thursday.