Dow Creeps Up 1.52 After Seesaw Session

Wall Street stocks eked out a gain today, supported by strength in transportation stocks and some drug companies, after a seesaw session pushed the market up and down throughout the day.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.52 points to 2,728.15 after falling 16.73 points Tuesday.

Despite the slight gain in blue chips, transportation stocks soared on continuing takeover speculation.

The Dow Jones transportation average rose 22.94 points to 1,529.52, shattering its previous record set Tuesday.

In the broader market, gaining issues led declines 8-7 in fairly active trading of 174.35 million shares.

Bond Prices Rise

Bond prices continued higher in early trading today.

The Treasury’s benchmark 30-year bond rose 3/16 point, or nearly $2 per $1,000 face amount, while its yield, which falls when prices rise, dropped to 8.18% from 8.21% late Tuesday.

The bond market, normally leery of strong economic growth because it raises inflation risks, held up well after the government reported that personal incomes rose a healthy 0.7% in July, the best gain in four months.

In addition, consumer spending climbed 0.7%, its fastest pace in three months, the Commerce Department reported today.

On Tuesday, the government significantly revised upward its estimate of total economic growth, showing that the gross national product was growing at a healthy annual rate of 2.7% in the April-June quarter instead of the anemic 1.7% GNP rate originally reported.

Bond traders took the GNP report in stride because it was accompanied by a slight downward revision in an inflation indicator that is tied to GNP.

Treasury Issues Rise

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments rose about 3/32 point, intermediate maturities rose about 1/8 point and long-term issues were up about 1/4 point, according to Telerate Inc., the financial information service.

The movement of a point is equivalent to a change of $10 in the price of a bond with a $1,000 face value.

The Shearson Lehman Hutton daily Treasury bond index, which measures price movements on all outstanding Treasury issues with maturities of a year or longer, rose 3.30 to 1,175.46.

Moody’s investment grade corporate bond index, which measures total return on a portfolio of 80 corporate bonds with maturities of five years or longer, rose 0.17 to 327.87.

Yields Decline

Yields on three-month Treasury bills fell to 8% as the discount fell 5 basis points to 7.85%. Yields on six-month bills fell to 8.22% as the discount fell 4 basis points to 7.80%. Yields on one-year bills fell to 8.32% as the discount fell 3 basis points to 7.73%.