Stocks Chalk Up Wide Gains; Dow Climbs 17
The stock market capped off a weeklong advance with a broad gain Friday, aided by better-than-expected news on international trade and domestic inflation.
The Dow Jones index of 30 industrial stocks rose 17.60 to 2,377.73, stretching its gain for the week to 51.58 points.
The bond market also gave the data a warm response. The Treasury’s key 30-year bond traded up nearly 2 points, or about $20 for every $1,000 in face amount. The yield on the bond, which moves inversely to its price, fell to 8.49% from 8.67% late Thursday.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange came to 175.07 million shares, up from 138.86 million in the previous session.
Economic Reports
The Commerce Department reported Friday morning that the U.S. merchandise trade deficit narrowed in April.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said its producer price index rose 0.3% in May, down from 0.7% in April.
Analysts said both those numbers served to ease fears of inflation and upward pressure on interest rates.
The stock market’s recent rise brought many of the leading averages and indexes close to their previous peaks. The Dow Jones industrial, for example, stands less than 28 points shy of the record closing high of 2,405.54 it set on April 6.
However, the market faces a potential obstacle next week in the form of a quarterly “triple witching hour” involving a group of expiring stock-index futures, stock-index options and options on individual stocks.
Industrials, Utilities Up
In corporate bond trading, industrials were up 1 1/2 points and utilities rose about a point in light to moderate dealings.
Among tax-exempt municipal bonds, general obligations rose 1 point and revenue bonds were up about 1 1/2 point. Trading was light.
Yields on three-month Treasury bills were up 1 basis point to 5.54%, six month bills were off 1 basis point at 5.86% and one-year bills fell 4 basis points to 6.27%. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, traded at 6.675%, down from 6.688% late Thursday.
