Stocks Mixed; Dow Gains 3 in Late Rebound
The stock market rebounded from some early selling to finish mixed Wednesday, thanks to some late buying of blue chips.
The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, down about 13 points at midday, closed with a 3.16 gain at 1,868.94.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange slowed to 117.04 million shares from 123.09 million on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrials dropped 8.41 points in the week’s first two sessions. Analysts said enthusiasm for stocks has slackened lately as evidence has mounted that the pace of business activity remains subdued.
Before the opening Wednesday, the government revised downward its estimate of economic growth in the first quarter of this year.
The Commerce Department said the gross national product grew at an annual rate of 2.9%, after adjustment for inflation and seasonal factors, in the January-to-March period, rather than the 3.7% rate estimated earlier.
Though the news came as no surprise on Wall Street, analysts said it was one more indication that growth for 1986 as a whole is lagging behind expectations, including the projections of the Reagan Administration.
Analysts Encouraged
The market’s strength late in the session was seen as encouraging by some analysts, who noted that the bears had been in control for the first half of the week without making much headway.
Computer and technology stocks slumped early in the session in selling attributed to the latest signs of weakness in the economy. Some of them rallied, however, to lead the late recovery by the market.
Texas Instruments dropped 3 to 119 1/2 and International Business Machines was down 1/2 at 146 3/8, but Digital Equipment rose 1 7/8 to 83 7/8 and Hewlett-Packard added 1/8 to 41 7/8.
Upjohn also rallied near the close, finishing unchanged at 96 3/4 after trading as low as 93. The stock fell 4 7/8 on Tuesday when news surfaced of a letter from the Food and Drug Administration to Upjohn contending that a company press release exaggerated the effectiveness of its drug, Minoxidil, as a treatment for male baldness.
Declining issues outnumbered advances by about five to four on the Big Board. The exchange’s composite index gained 0.26 to 140.63.
Large blocks of 10,000 or more shares traded on the NYSE totaled 2,257, compared to 2,382 on Tuesday.
Nationwide turnover in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 140.15 million shares.
In the bond market, the price of long-term government bonds pulled back, yielding some recent gains, while the rest of the market made minor movements in dull trading.
The revised GNP estimate sparked some brief buying when trading commenced, but it quickly abated.
