Dow Surges As Stocks Extend Year-End Rally

Stocks extended a sudden year-end rally Tuesday, giving the Dow Jones industrial average one last crack at finishing 1997 above 8,000.

The Dow rose 123.56 to 7,915.97, padding Monday’s 113-point jump and pushing this year’s gain toward 23 percent.

Broad-market indicators also posted big gains, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 index boosting this year’s spoils to 31 percent and the Nasdaq composite index increasing its 1997 gain to 21 percent.

Barring a steep decline today, 1997 would make it the third straight year of better-than 20 percent gains for all three indicators, an unprecedented string for Wall Street. Most popular market measures have more than doubled during that span.

While traders were encouraged by signs of progress in containing the financial crisis in Asia, analysts attributed most of Monday’s and Tuesday’s gains to year-end portfolio positioning by money managers.

“There’s really been nothing of earth-shattering importance to send the Dow up 250 points in two days. It’s seasonal factors and market dynamics,” said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly a 3-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled 498.97 million shares as of 4 p.m., up from 441.25 million on Monday.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Tuesday:

NYSE

Dayton Hudson, up 6-3/8 at 68-3/8.

The Minneapolis-based department store company appears to have fared better than other retailers during a mostly bleak holiday sales period, Dow Jones News Service reported, citing industry analysts.

SunGard Data Systems, up 1-13/16 at 30-3/8.

Sumitomo Trust & Banking of Japan purchased a Panorama market risk management system from the London-based software company.

NASDAQ

Synopsys, down 2-11/32 at 37-1/8.

SoundView Financial Group downgraded its near-term rating on Synopsys to “hold” from “buy,” Dow Jones Service reported.

Platinum Technology, up 4-11/64 at 28-11/64.

The company signed a licensing and sales deal under which Intel agreed to buy an undisclosed number of nonvoting shares in Platinum.

AMEX

Viacom class B, up 1-15/16 at 42.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Viacom might sell or spin off Simon & Schuster, which analysts value at about $4 billion. A Viacom spokeswoman declined comment.