Interest Rates Ease but Dow Gains Just 5.20

Wall Street stocks made little progress today despite signs that the Federal Reserve had moved to ease its credit policy.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 5.20 points to 2,550.25. Gainers edged past losers on the New York Stock Exchange on moderate volume of 165.44 million shares.

Traders drew some encouragement from the long-anticipated move by the Fed Reserve to lower interest rates, which sent bond prices soaring. Lower oil prices failed to provide much support.

Oil prices took a dive below $30 per barrel at one point this morning, as traders decided the outbreak of war in the Persian Gulf could take some time.

Analysts said that futures-related selling helped to keep gains low, and buyers were reluctant to commit themselves ahead of the expiration of stock index options at today’s close.

“It’s all futures-related,” one trader said of the market’s downturn. “There’s no fundamental reasons.”

In the economic news, the Labor Department said the nation’s core inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, advanced a moderate 0.3% last month.

The report “was definitely encouraging,” said Michael Metz, a vice president at Oppenheimer & Co.