FINANCIAL MARKETS : Dow Rises 5.71; Stocks Get Lift From Bonds
Stocks climbed higher Wednesday, recouping some of Tuesday’s losses, as investors took heart from a modest recovery in the Treasury bond market, brokers said.
The Dow Jones index of 30 industrials, which had dropped 10.93 points Tuesday, rose 5.71 to 2,596.28.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange came to 183.07 million shares, against 173.53 million in the previous session.
Analysts said fluctuations in interest rates continued to set the tone for the market.
After climbing Tuesday to their highest levels in almost two years, surpassing 9.75%, rates on long-term Treasury bonds dropped back a bit in Wednesday’s credit market activity.
But analysts said stock traders remained concerned that rates might come under more upward pressure soon.
In the economic news, the Commerce Department said its index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6% in August.
Ford Motor Up
The figure matched advance estimates on Wall Street, and brokers said it exerted no strong influence either way on the market.
Among actively traded blue chips Wednesday, Ford Motor rose 1 3/4 to 97 5/8; International Business Machines was up at 150 3/4; General Electric gained to 61 1/2, and American Telephone & Telegraph dropped 5/8 to 33 3/4.
Bear Stearns gained to 20. The company reached an agreement for Jardine Strategic Holdings of Hong Kong to acquire about a 20% stake in it for $23 a share.
Salomon Inc., which is getting a large investment from Berkshire Hathaway Corp., slipped 1/2 to 36 3/8 after climbing 2 1/8 on Tuesday.
Santa Fe Southern Pacific was the most actively traded stock, jumping 4 3/4 to 63 5/8 on talk of a possible buyout.
Earlier this week, Canada’s Olympia & York Real Estate Development Group said it had a 6.18% stake in Santa Fe and had received regulatory clearance to increase that to 24.9%.
Gainers topped losers by about 4 to 3 on the Big Board.
In Japan, stock prices closed mixed Wednesday in heavy trading. The Nikkei index of 225 shares closed up 12.88 at 26,010.88, although it had dipped as much as 164 points below Tuesday’s close.
