Techs, Oil Merger Talk Help Dow Hurdle Mark
Blue chips barreled past the 10,000-Dow milestone on Monday amid a continuing rebound in major tech stocks and as oil issues rocketed with talk of BP Amoco’s possible offer for Atlantic Richfield.
The Dow finished the day up 184.54 points, or 1.9%, at a record 10,006.78, and the broader market also was sharply higher, though trading volume was modest.
The Nasdaq composite soared 73.67 points, or 3.1%, to 2,492.84, leaving that index just shy of its record 2,510.09 set on Feb. 1.
On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange traders obliged a crowd of TV camera operators, photographers and reporters with about a minute of applause.
Despite the continuing conflict between NATO and Yugoslavia, many Wall Streeters returned to work on Monday ready to buy.
Analysts noted that the Federal Reserve Board, meeting today, is widely expected to keep interest rates steady. What’s more, with the first quarter ending on Wednesday, some money managers may be engaged in end-of-quarter “window dressing” to pick up leading blue-chip stocks.
The tech sector, recently battered amid worries about first-quarter earnings, led the market. Dow stock IBM soared $5.50 to $177.88 and Hewlett-Packard, also in the Dow, rose 94 cents to $69.63.
Among Nasdaq issues, Microsoft jumped $3.31 to $92.38, Intel rose $4.88 to $121.56 and Sun Microsystems soared $8 to $124.50.
In the broad market winners topped losers by 18 to 11 on the NYSE, as 748 million shares changed hands--modest by recent measures.
Smaller stocks, which have far trailed bigger stocks in recent years, also picked up. The Russell 2,000 index of smaller issues rose 1.5%.
Still, the day belonged to blue chips, once again.
Not even rising interest rates could stop the rally once it got going, as investors piled into their favorite shares. The 30-year Treasury bond yield rose to 5.64% from 5.59% on Friday, and now is the highest since March 3.
But after trading closed Coca-Cola warned of disappointing first-quarter results.
Among the market highlights:
* The Dow’s two oil stocks rose amid talk of further consolidation in the industry. Exxon jumped $1.44 to $73 and Chevron leaped $2.81 to $89.63.
* Drug stocks were boosted by unconfirmed talk that Glaxo Wellcome and Bristol Myers-Squibb were discussing a deal. Glaxo Wellcome gained $2.44 to $64.25, while Bristol Myers rose $2.69 to $62.19.
* The Internet sector was mixed, with EBay off $6.72 to $147.78 as Amazon.com took aim at its market. Amazon rose $10.56 to $149.63.
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Market Roundup, C13
