FINANCIAL MARKETS : Blue Chips at Record on Mixed Day

The Dow Jones industrials on Thursday finally topped their September record high, but the broad market again closed mixed.

The Dow gained 24.93 points to 4,802.45, just squeaking by its old record of 4,801.80 set Sept. 14.

Of note to market historians, the Dow’s new high was set on the eighth anniversary of the 1987 market crash, when the index plummeted more than 500 points in a single session.

In the broad market, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index also reached a new high Thursday, gaining 3.21 points to 590.65.

The Dow and the S&P; both owed their records to another flurry of buying in classic growth stocks such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, on the heels of some strong earnings reports from those companies.

Overall, however, losers edged winners on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Trading remained active.

The Nasdaq composite index, which had been streaking higher in recent days, added just 1.60 points to 1,046.97 as profit takers hit some technology stocks.

Analysts said the monthly double expiration of certain options and futures contracts helped Thursday’s blue-chip gains, as traders closed out positions.

But the day’s big trend was a return to classic growth stocks, signaling that some investors remain worried about the outlook for corporate profits overall and are seeking refuge in companies with dependable earnings records.

Investors see “less volatility and a little bit more assurance that next year is going to be OK” in more predictable, less volatile growth stocks, said Ron Miterko, who manages $100 million in stocks at People’s Bank in Bridgeport, Conn.

That shift to big-name growth issues may have been helped Thursday by some fresh earnings disappointments in the high-tech sector.

General Instrument, a maker of telecommunications equipment, plunged 7 to 20 after it warned that earnings will be hurt by a slowdown in equipment orders from cable TV companies.

Another earnings blow was delivered by Nokia. The Finland-based cellular phone giant reported sharply higher quarterly earnings but warned that it faces an “uncertain outlook” for sales in the U.S. cellular market in the near term.

Nokia’s NYSE-traded shares plummeted 8 3/8 to 60 1/2.

Among Thursday’s highlights:

* Other losers in the tech sector included DSC Communications, down 2 7/8 to 39 7/8; Motorola, down 2 1/2 to 65; and Apple Computer, off 2 5/8 to 34 3/4 after its disappointing earnings report issued late Wednesday.

But Digital Equipment rose 2 5/8 to 54 7/8, Microsoft added 1 1/8 to 96 3/4, IBM rose 1 7/8 to 98 1/4, FileNet gained 2 1/4 to 43 1/4 and Computer Associates leaped 3 7/8 to 48 7/8.

* Among consumer growth stocks, strong earnings reports propelled Gillette up 1 1/8 to 49 3/4, Coca-Cola up 1 3/4 to 73 1/2 and McDonald’s up 1 1/2 to 40 1/2.

Other winners included Procter & Gamble, up 1 3/8 to 81 1/4; Hershey Foods, up 2 1/8 to 66 3/4; Bristol-Myers, up 1 1/2 to 76 3/8; and Colgate-Palmolive, up 2 1/2 to 70 3/8.

* Phone utilities also were strong. BellAtlantic surged 1 1/2 to 63 1/2, Ameritech jumped 2 1/4 to 54 and SBC Communications gained 1 3/4 to 55 7/8.

* Banking stocks gave back some of Wednesday’s gains made after the surprise hostile takeover offer by Wells Fargo for First Interstate. Wells dipped 5/8 to 228 3/8; First Interstate eased 3/8 to 139 7/8.

Also falling were Banc One, down 1 to 37; Norwest, off 1 1/4 to 32 3/8; Barnett Banks, down 1 1/2 to 58 5/8; Union Bank, off 2 3/4 to 54 1/4; Great Western Financial, down 1/2 to 25, and H.F. Ahmanson, which slipped 5/8 to 27 1/8.

In the bond market on Thursday yields eased slightly, helped by President Clinton’s indication that he is flexible in working out a balanced-budget deal with the Republican Congress.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield slipped to 6.30% from 6.33% on Wednesday.

In currency trading the dollar fell as some traders switched to German marks in the wake of fresh political troubles in France.

In New York the dollar dropped to 1.4065 marks from 1.4230 marks Wednesday. It also ended at 100.45 Japanese yen, down from 100.87. Overseas, Tokyo’s 225-share Nikkei stock index added 59.39 points to 17,955.36.

In Mexico City, the Bolsa index ended up 19.13 points at 2,351.57.

At the Chicago Board of Trade, expectations of booming exports propelled a fresh surge in wheat and corn prices.

December wheat futures jumped 7 3/4 cents to $5.07 1/2 a bushel, marching closer to the record $5.44 set in October, 1980.

Market Roundup, D6