Foreign Markets Push Dow Down 2.02

Stocks ended mostly lower Monday, but significantly above their lows for the session, amid weakness on foreign markets and concern about interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.02 to 3,867.41, recovering from an early loss of about 31 points.

Declining issues outnumbered advances by about 5 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to 325.81 million shares as of 4 p.m., down from 375.34 million in the previous session.

Foreign shares were sharply lower at the opening bell on Wall Street and pulled U.S. stocks down with them.

In Tokyo, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 5.6 percent amid worsening predictions of damage costs from last week’s devastating earthquake in Kobe. In London, the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index lost 1.4 percent, while stocks fell 1.4 percent in Frankfurt and 2.2 percent in Paris.

The concerns that depressed stock markets in Japan and elsewhere provoked new worries about interest rates worldwide.

Stock investors are already skittish about interest rates as the Federal Reserve’s policy setting Open Market Committee prepares to meet again on Jan. 31. Many analysts believe the central bank will decide to nudge rates higher.

Some of the stocks that moved the most or were active:

NYSE

Wellcome, up 4 1/2 to 15 1/4.

Rival Glaxo has made an unsolicited bid for the company. Glaxo lost 1 1/4 to 19 1/4.

Ford Motors, down 1/8 to 26 1/4.

The stock was lower amid reports that the company may again idle three plants because of a drop in car and minivan orders.

Telefonos de Mexico, up 3/4 to 34.

The stock recovered along with other Mexican issues along with positive comments on the possibilities for passage in Congress of the $40 billion aid package to Mexico.

IBM, down 1 3/8 to 74.

The company said it earned $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter, boosted by stronger than expected demand for large computers, to end its first profitable year since 1990. Still, in a statement with the earnings report, Chief Executive Louis Gerstner Jr. said, “Despite the progress … we are not satisfied with our revenue growth. The pace of change at IBM must continue.”

NASDAQ

Aldila, down 5 1/8 to 4 7/8.

The company forecast 1995 revenues below 1994 levels. Merrill Lynch cut a rating on the stock.

Cyrix, up 3 3/4 to 26.

The stock was continuing its sharp rise from last week after the computer market reported fourthquarter earnings of 63 cents a share vs. 6 cents in the year-ago period.