Dow Dips but NASDAQ Sets Mark : Market Overview
* Blue chip stocks closed with moderate losses for the third consecutive session, under pressure from profit taking, while secondary shares resumed their climb into record high territory.
Hong Kong stock prices rallied in Friday morning trading, boosting the Hang Seng index 4.7% as traders tried to snatch bargains from the aftermath of Thursday’s plunge over the crisis in Sino-British relations, brokers said.
* Crude oil futures fell for the fourth straight day on the New York Mercantile Exchange as fresh supply data and discord among OPEC members pressed prices to their lowest level in more than eight months.
* Credit market interest rates edged lower in quiet trading.
Stocks
The Dow Jones industrial average closed off 9.72 points at 3,276.53 after bouncing back from a session low of 3,269.23. In the broader market, advancing issues narrowly outnumbered decliners on New York Stock Exchange volume of 238.05 million shares, against 247.01 million on Wednesday.
The NASDAQ index rose 3.45 points to a new high of 656.36, its sixth record close in the last seven sessions.
Traders said favorable economic reports early in the day bolstered blue chip stocks, but there was not enough enthusiasm to push prices higher.
Analysts said Dow stocks such as Caterpillar Inc. and General Electric Co. weighed on the overall index. Caterpillar fell 1 1/8 to 53 1/8, while GE lost 1 1/8 to 81 5/8.
They said the Dow 30-stock average managed a recovery from the day’s lows on the back of stronger economic figures that came out during the session.
A decline in initial jobless claims to 362,000 for the week ended Nov. 21, from 377,000 the previous week, created anticipation of a strong monthly employment report. Those numbers are due out today.
But analysts said investors showed some reserve ahead of the November jobs report, which is expected to show non-farm payrolls rising and the unemployment rate holding at 7.4%.
In another encouraging sign that the economy is recovering, the government said factory orders climbed for the second month in a row during October, rising by 1.7%, or $4.1 billion, to $244 billion--primarily because of more car and aircraft demand. Orders had risen 1.3% in September.
Among the market highlights:
* Intel Corp. gained 4 to 77 1/4 on almost 6 million shares. A U.S. judge ruled that rival Advanced Micro Devices does not have the right to copy parts of Intel software. Advanced Micro fell 1 3/4 to 16 1/8.
* General Motors was unchanged at 32 3/4 after announcing that it will close up to nine plants and plans to transfer its luxury car production.
* The shares of some retailers slipped after they reported disappointing November same-store sales. Charming Shoppes dropped 3/8 to 35 7/8, and Natural Wonders fell 3 to 16 3/4. But Home Depot climbed 1 3/4 to 63.
In overseas trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 233.55 points, or 4.69%, to 5,211.76 by 11:18 a.m. Friday after plunging 433.44 points, or 8.0%, on Thursday in the biggest daily loss since the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing.
Tokyo’s 225-share Nikkei average was down 133.60 points to 17,260.08, while London’s Financial Times 100-share average closed 6.9 points up at 2,771.
Shares ended weaker in Frankfurt in thin and cautious trading. The 30-share DAX average closed down 1.46 points at 1,532.50.
Commodities
Light, sweet crude oil for January delivery fell 37 cents to $19.08 a barrel, the lowest settlement of a near-term contract since March 20. January heating oil plunged 1.51 cents to 54.30 a gallon; January unleaded gasoline fell 0.82 of a cent to 51.30 cents a gallon; January natural gas surged 4.6 cents to $1.979 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Crude oil has tumbled $1.19 a barrel this week since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to reduce its output by about 1.6%. Traders viewed the agreement as a token cut that the bickering Arab nations are unlikely to achieve.
Meanwhile, U.S. supplies of crude oil and petroleum products are rising. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group, said in a weekly report after trading ended Wednesday that U.S. crude stocks rose by 1.1 million barrels last week, and distillates--which include heating oil--climbed 1.9 million barrels.
Meanwhile, gold fell 40 cents to $335.50 an ounce, and December silver rose 1.2 cents to $3.745 an ounce on New York’s Commodity Exchange.
Credit
The yield on the Treasury’s key 30-year bond slipped to 7.55% from 7.56% late Wednesday, while its price, which rises when yields fall, rose 5/32 point, or $1.56 per $1,000 in face amount.
The government reports showing further improvement in the economy normally would lower bond prices, since economic strength reduces the chance for lower interest rates.
But many market participants have already accounted for the improving economy in their trading activity.
The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, was quoted at 3%, up from 2.875% late Wednesday.
Currency
The dollar ended higher against most key currencies, strengthened by year-end demand, weakness in the powerful German mark and additional evidence that the U.S. economy is improving.
Currency traders said the dollar’s behavior was influenced partly by increased customer demand as 1992 draws to a close. American-based multinational companies, for example, often require large amounts of dollars in the final weeks of the year as they repatriate profits in foreign currencies.
In New York, the British pound fetched $1.565, more expensive than its $1.553 value late Wednesday.
The dollar closed at 124.65 Japanese yen, up from 124.50 yen late Wednesday, and at 1.583 German marks, up from 1.575.
Dow Jones Industrials
Markets at a Glance
New York Volume
