Dow Slips, but Broad Market Gains : Market Overview

Stocks ended mostly higher, even as fresh political uncertainty rippled through the market after a new opinion poll showed President Bush gaining on Democratic opponent Bill Clinton.

* Bond yields fell as energy prices dropped sharply on expectations that oil supplies will continue to increase.

Stocks

The Dow industrial average slipped 5.13 points to 3,246.27, hurt by another decline in shares of IBM. The embattled computer giant’s stock slid 1 1/8 to 66.

But overall the market moved higher, once again led by smaller stocks. The NASDAQ composite index of smaller issues gained 4.43 points to 605.82.

On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 5 to 4. Volume came to 206.55 million shares, down from Wednesday’s 203.91 million.

Analysts said many investors have stopped worrying so much about the election and are more concentrated on finding shares of companies that would prosper in any environment.

“There’s a desire to try to find growth during a non-growing economy,” said Robert Caputo, research chief at Swiss Bank Corp. “People are driven to find niche growth, and that falls more to secondary companies”--hence the NASDAQ market’s strength.

Among the market highlights:

* Investors’ appetite for technology stocks continued strong. Legent, a software firm, rose 1 1/4 to 45 1/4 in heavy trading after the company reported higher than expected quarterly earnings.

Other tech winners included Apple Computer, up 1 to 53 1/4; Microsoft, up 1 1/2 to 90; Cabletron Systems, up 1 1/2 to 68 1/4, and Silicon Graphics, up 1 7/8 to 25 3/8.

But Data General plunged 2 1/8 to 10 7/8 after saying fourth-quarter earnings fell to 1 cent a share from 53 cents a year earlier.

*Telmex, the Mexican phone company, surged 1 3/4 to 50 3/8 after reporting strong earnings for the nine months ended Sept. 30. The report helped push the Mexican market higher: The Bolsa index gained 16.11 points to 1,565.30.

* Among Southland issues, healthy earnings news buoyed recreational vehicle maker Fleetwood Enterprises, up 1 1/8 to 36 3/4, and athletic shoe maker K Swiss, up 3 to 20. But real estate auction house Kennedy-Wilson sank 1 1/8 to 4 1/2 after delaying its quarterly earnings report, saying its new financial officer needed more time.

* The day’s big losers included electrical equipment firm Cooper Industries, off 6 1/2 to 46 1/4 after reporting lower quarterly earnings, and financial services company Beneficial, down 2 3/4 to 57 1/2 on a flat earnings report.

Also, Triton Energy fell 4 1/8 to 38 1/2 after a Colombia oil field in which it has a major stake was estimated to have reserves of 2 billion barrels, below some analysts’ expectations.

* Software retailer Egghead gained 1 3/8 to 9 3/4 on a rumor that Kmart is interested in acquiring it.

Overseas, worries about higher taxes plus gloomy corporate profit forecasts battered Frankfurt shares. The DAX index lost 16.66 points to 1,493.64. In London, the 100-share Financial Times index dropped 8.1 points to 2,642.3.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei average slipped 130.70 points to 16,937.71.

Credit

Interest rates eased across the board, led by the Treasury’s 30-year bond: Its yield dropped to 7.57% from 7.61% Wednesday.

Analysts speculated that President Bush’s gains in the polls are helping the bond market. Investors fear that Bill Clinton would boost federal spending and inflation with a major economic revival plan.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, was at 3.06%, down from 3.38% Wednesday.

Currency

The dollar ended mixed after trading in a narrow range.

The German mark benefited from the fact that Germany’s central bank has made no additional moves to lower interest rates in recent days. In New York, the dollar fetched 1.538 marks, down from 1.546 Wednesday.

Against the Japanese yen the dollar rose to 123.28 from Wednesday’s 123.18.

Commodities

Energy prices fell sharply on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as expectations of supply shortages this winter continued to evaporate.

Light, sweet crude oil for December tumbled 41 cents to $20.71 a barrel. “The crude market has gone from perceptions of tightness in supplies to a surplus,” said Andrew Lebow, senior broker and energy analyst at E.D.& F. Man International Futures Inc.

Heating oil futures led the market lower in reaction to a Department of Energy report that distillate inventories nationwide, including heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 3 million barrels in the latest week.

November heating oil fell 1.89 cents lower at 59.51 cents a gallon.

Meanwhile, gold and silver futures were mixed on New York’s Comex. November gold rose 10 cents to $339.50 an ounce. November silver was off 0.5 cent at $3.75.

Market Roundup, D6