FINANCIAL MARKETS : Stocks Mixed as Long Yield Keeps Falling : Market Overview
Shares of smaller companies put on a show of strength Wednesday, sending the NASDAQ index to a record high, while blue chips closed lower in moderate trading.
* Long-term bond yields fell slightly, with the 30-year maturity yield nearing a record low set last week. Gold and silver prices fell sharply.
Stocks
The drop in long-term government bond yields helped bolster stock prices in largely quiet dealings before the Labor Day weekend.
The Dow industrial average of 30 blue-chip issues lost 6.15 points to 3,645.10. But the number of stocks that rose slightly outnumbered those that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Big Board volume totaled 246.91 million share, against 252.83 million in the previous session.
The NASDAQ market again led gainers. The NASDAQ index rose 3.31 to 746.15, its third consecutive record close.
Foreign markets posted losses. Germany’s DAX average lost 26.31 points to end at 1,918.58. Tokyo’s Nikkei average finished down 73.30 points to 20,953.30. In London, the Financial Times 100-share average closed off 14.9 points at 3,085.1.
Among individual U.S. shares:
* Borden topped the NYSE most-active list. The food company gained 1/2 to 17 1/4 on a published report that it may be on the verge of restructuring.
* CBS climbed 19 to 266 on favorable ratings news of David Letterman’s new late night talk show and technically based buying.
* Delta Air Lines tumbled 1 3/8 to 52 5/8. It said it plans to continue consolidating its European operation to cut costs.
* Honeywell fell 3 3/8 to 35 1/2 in heavy NYSE trading after a federal jury in Los Angeles on Tuesday ordered it to pay Litton Industries $1.2 billion for violating a Litton patent. Litton was unchanged at 66 1/2.
* On the NASDAQ, biotech stocks Chiron gained 2 1/4 to 66, Biogen added 3/4 to 33 3/4 and Amgen advanced 1/2 to 37 1/2.
* Lidak Pharmaceuticals fell 3 11/16 to 5 7/16 after a television commentator questioned the effectiveness of its anti-herpes drug.
Other Markets
Long-term Treasury bond yields fell early following a flurry of weak economic data, including a report showing a slowdown in manufacturing activity last month.
The key 30-year bond yield fell to 6.09% from 6.10% late Tuesday. That was just above the record low set last Thursday of 6.08%. Its price, which moves in the opposite direction, rose 1/8 point, or $1.25 per $1,000 in face value.
The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, was 3.25%, up from 3.00%.
Meanwhile, gold prices were down domestically and mixed overseas.
On the New York Commodity Exchange, gold for current delivery closed at $369.90 an ounce, off $3.10 from Tuesday. The selling wiped out nearly all the gains posted in the two previous sessions.
Silver for current delivery closed at $4.739 an ounce, off 9.9 cents from Tuesday.
Light sweet crude oil fell below $18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after a trade group reported higher U.S. inventories of crude than traders expected. October crude fell 32 cents to $17.97 a barrel.
In New York, the dollar closed at 105.30 Japanese yen, up from 104.74 on Tuesday. The greenback fell to 1.660 German marks, down from 1.677 marks.
Market Roundup, D6
