FINANCIAL MARKETS : Tech Stocks Push Nasdaq to Record; Bond Prices Slip
Wall Street stocks rose Monday as fresh gains in high-technology shares propelled the Nasdaq index to another record high.
Bond prices edged lower in quiet trading as the market braced for a series of economic reports later this week.
The dollar rose against the Japanese yen in expectation of another round of aggressive dollar purchases by Japan’s central bank after its intervention Friday.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 4.22 points at 4,704.94. In the broader market, advancing issues led decliners 1,147 to 1,046 on moderate volume of 296 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Nasdaq index closed up 6.53 points at 1,066.56, eclipsing Friday’s record close of 1,060.03. The Standard & Poor’s composite index of 500 stocks also reached a new high, 573.91, up 1.23 points.
Analysts said the blue-chip index, which has been lagging the overall market, will eventually bounce back. The Dow is still about 31 points below its record closing high of 4,736.29 set on July 17.
“We’ve got a shot at a record on the Dow within the next week or two,” said Thom Brown, a managing director at Rutherford Brown & Catherwood. “It looks like the techs, except for poor old IBM, have heated up again.”
“I don’t see any real trouble spots [in the overall market] and the lack of any major trouble spots means the Dow will catch up with the rest of the market,” Brown said.
Ralph Bloch, chief technical analyst at Raymond James, said, “The main theme today continues to be the technology sector--it continues to roar ahead and provide leadership.”
Although the stock market is marching higher, there was still a lot of tentativeness and caution, said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp.
“We have some important numbers due this week, and some investors feel that this data will effectively put the Federal Reserve on hold,” he said.
The August producer and consumer price indexes are due today and Wednesday, respectively. August retail sales and industrial production and capacity utilization are due Thursday.
Among Monday’s highlights:
* Among actively traded NYSE issues, International Business Machines lost 2 3/8 to 96 1/2. A published report suggested that the stock may have reached a high for now and that many investors were selling.
* In Nasdaq trading, Cyrix lost 4 3/16 to 44. The stock tumbled after rising last week amid takeover rumors.
In the bond market, the yield of the Treasury’s main 30-year bond was up 0.01 point from late Friday to 6.59%.
The dollar rose to 99.98 yen in late New York trading, up from 99.70 yen on Friday, but it never hit 100 yen. The dollar fell to 1.4725 German marks from 1.4772 marks as the mark soared to its highest level in more than two years against the yen.
Coffee prices fell for the fifth straight session on an unexpectedly large Colombian crop estimate and prospects for rain in drought-hit Brazil. The most-active December contract touched a two-month low of 133.60 cents a pound at the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange before closing 3.05 cents lower at 133.80 cents.
Cocoa prices also dropped after the London-based secretariat of the International Cocoa Organization projected cocoa supplies will be closer to consumption levels next year.
December cocoa fell $16 to $1,274 a metric ton.
Silver prices rebounded at the Commodity Exchange, amid fluctuating warehouse stocks of silver bars. The volatile figure has caused the market to gyrate recently.
December silver rose 12.7 cents to $5.53 an ounce, and December gold gained $1 to $386.60.
