FINANCIAL MARKETS : STOCKS : Dow Tumbles 15.99; Buyers Await Jobs Data

Stock prices pulled back for the third straight session Thursday as traders hesitated to buy ahead of today’s jobs data.

The Dow Jones index of 30 industrials dropped 15.99 points to 2,720.78.

Declining issues outnumbered advances in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 622 up, 843 down and 530 unchanged.

Big Board volume rose to 161.98 million shares, from Wednesday’s 145.85 million.

More than half of the Dow’s decline was accounted for by a 5 1/4-point drop, to 66 3/4, in the stock of Chevron Corp., which had been widely rumored as a potential takeover target.

Pennzoil, which was up 5/8 at 83 1/4, said it had acquired 8.8% of Chevron’s stock and might buy more but had no plans for a takeover bid.

Otherwise, analysts said hopes had dimmed a bit this week that the Federal Reserve might soon relax its credit policy further.

Brokers said optimism about the chances for fresh declines in interest rates could be revived if today’s monthly report from the Labor Department on the employment situation provides evidence that economic growth remains sluggish.

But traders seemed reluctant to hold positions exposing them to any surprises in the figures.

Advance estimates on Wall Street call for the November data to show an increase of about 150,000 in non-farm payroll employment.

Abbott Laboratories sank 1 1/4 to 67 1/8 on rumors that the Food and Drug Administration had asked it to close one of its Chicago plants. Abbott said it had not closed any of its plants, nor had the FDA asked it to do so. It said the FDA made a routine inspection of an Abbott plant last month that was unrelated to any investigation.

Pinnacle West led the active list and jumped 4 7/8 to 10 1/4. The company agreed to provide $450 million in cash and securities to its Merabank savings and loan subsidiary, meeting a condition of an offer for Pinnacle West made last week by Pacificorp.

Tokyo stocks soared again to close at a record high, boosted by late index-linked buying related to the expiration of December futures and options contracts. The key 225-share Nikkei index rallied 203.82 points to close at 37,858.11 after climbing 160.12 Wednesday. The Nikkei has hit record closing highs for 11 of the last 12 trading days.

Share prices ended lower in London in thin trading. Weakness in the Financial Times-Stock Exchange futures contract in the early afternoon helped drag the market down to its lows. At the close, the Financial Times 100-share index was down 7.0 points at 2,346.7.

CREDIT 30-Year-Bond Price Weakens Slightly A government report showing a large drop in initial unemployment claims tipped bond prices lower Thursday.

The Treasury’s closely watched 30-year bond declined 3/32 point, or 94 cents for every $1,000 in face value. Its yield rose to 7.92% from 7.91% late Wednesday.

Analysts said bond prices were weakened a bit by the Labor Department’s report that initial claims for state unemployment insurance dropped 53,000 in the week ended Nov. 25, to 310,000.

The data indicated high employment and strength in the economy. Many experts have believed recently that economic weakness, especially in the manufacturing sector, could prompt the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates soon. Lower rates tend to boost bond prices.

The credit markets have been trading in narrow ranges all week in advance of the release of the employment figures for November. Volume remained light Thursday despite the weekly jobless report.

Also dampening bond prices was a report that U.S. consumer installment credit expanded by $3.34 billion in October, analysts said.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term government issues declined 1/8 point to 5/32 point, intermediate maturities also lost 1/8 point to 5/32 point and long-term issues were down 3/32 point to 5/32 point, according to figures provided by Telerate Inc., a 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 federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, was quoted at 8.438%, unchanged from late Wednesday.

CURRENCY Dollar Higher in Light Trading The dollar closed marginally higher against most foreign currencies, but trading was light and uneventful.

Traders said the dollar traded within a very narrow range throughout the session, closing near the highs of the day partly on technical factors.

The West German mark continued to flex its muscle. Traders noted that the mark remained extremely strong, particularly against the Japanese yen.

In Tokyo, where trading ends before Europe’s business day begins, the dollar edged up 0.38 Japanese yen to a closing 144.13 yen. Later in London, it was quoted at 144.33 yen. In New York, the dollar closed at 144.31 yen, up from 144.03 yen on Wednesday.

In London, the British pound fell to $1.5750, from $1.5765 late Wednesday. But in New York it cost $1.5780 to buy one pound, more expensive than Wednesday’s $1.5765.

COMMODITIES Fall in Stocks Helps Precious Metals Precious metals futures prices rose sharply on New York’s Commodity Exchange in reaction to a decline in prices on the New York Stock Exchange.

In other markets, grains and soybeans were lower, cotton plunged, livestock and pork futures were mixed, and energy prices were mostly lower.

Gold settled $4.10 to $5.10 higher, with the contract for delivery in December at $410.00 an ounce; silver was 6.5 to 7.2 cents higher, with December at $5.623 an ounce.

“The sharp fall in the stock market caused a flight to quality buying . . . (in) the precious metals market,” said analyst Jim Steel of Refco Inc. in New York.

Silver prices followed gold in Thursday’s upward surge, helped along by the perception that the metal has been sharply oversold in recent sessions, Steel said.

Cotton futures were sharply lower on the New York Cotton Exchange as traders had difficulty unloading offerings because of a lack of buyers.

Cotton was 0.23 cent to 1.55 cents lower.

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