Negative News Fails To Halt Stock Market Rally

Blue-chip stocks shot higher in the final 30 minutes of trading Thursday to notch their fourth consecutive record close, after digesting a steady flow of negative news all day.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 27.65 points at 8,803.05, the first time above 8,800.

Larry Wachtel, a market analyst at Prudential Securities, said “an ocean of liquidity” continues to buffer any possible downturn in stocks, even in the face of wage inflation and lower earnings projections.

“This is simply an unrelenting bull market,” he said, “and where it ends, I really don’t know. Each time we pull back, people are conditioned to go in and buy.”

Broad indexes also rose to record highs, boosted by technology shares. The Standard & Poor’s 500 list posted its fourth consecutive high, adding 4.22 to 1,089.74. The Nasdaq composite claimed its third closing high in four sessions, up 11.70 to 1,799.98.

Advancing issues had a slim, 9-to-8 lead on decliners on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was 476.78 million shares, off from Wednesday’s pace.

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

NYSE

Nike “B” series fell 2-5/16 to 43-13/16.

The Beaverton, Ore., sneaker maker late Wednesday announced a 69 percent drop in profits, the second straight quarterly decline, and said it would lay off 1,600 workers, citing economic problems in Asia. Nike said it would take a fourth-quarter charge of $125 million to $175 million.

America Online Inc. fell 1-7/8 to 61-3/8.

Merrill Lynch & Co. lowered its intermediate-term rating to “near-term neutral” from “accumulate” after the stock reached the brokerage firm’s price target.

Sunbeam Corp. fell 4-11/16 to 45-3/8.

The home-appliance maker said first-quarter sales may fall below Wall Street’s estimates of $285 million to $295 million, but that revenue should exceed the year-earlier total of $253.4 million.

NASDAQ

WorldCom rose 3/4 to 44-1/4.

SBC Warburg Dillon Read started coverage of WorldCom, which is set to merge with MCI this summer, at “outperform.” MCI’s shares were up 3/16 at 49-7/8.

AMEX

Cablevision rose 8 to 120-1/4.

The owner of the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers has entered into discussions with George Steinbrenner about buying the New York Yankees, Newsday reported, citing Cablevision chairman Charles Dolan. Steinbrenner, reached Thursday morning in Florida, said he wasn’t “talking to anybody about selling.”