Dow Dips, Falls Below 4,300 Level

Stocks ended Wednesday’s session marginally stronger, boosted by the dollar and bonds and by sustained enthusiasm about quarterly earnings reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average recovered from a morning slump of nearly 17 points to close at 4,299.83, down 0.34 point.

“I’m just in awe of this market’s muscle,” remarked Alan Ackerman, senior vice president at Fahnestock & Co. “This is a market that refuses to back down.”

The strength was concentrated in big-name issues. Advancing issues barely edged out decliners on the New York Stock Exchange by 1,155 to 1,079, and 741 unchanged.

Big-Board volume was moderately heavy at 350.79 million shares as of 4 p.m., down from 351.78 million on Tuesday.

A pickup in the dollar helped buoy stocks, as it lessened the likelihood that the Federal Reserve would raise short-term interest rates to defend the currency.

“The concern was that the Fed was going to have to raise rates to support the dollar,” said Barry Berman, head trader at Robert W. Baird & Co. in Milwaukee. “If it recovers on its own, that should help bonds and stocks.”

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

NYSE

Chrysler fell 2 1/2 to 41 5/8.

Investor Kirk Kerkorian said he would end his $20 billion takeover bid for the automaker if shareholders voted it down, and acknowledged that he is having trouble financing it.

IBM rose 1 1/2 to 95 1/8.

S.G. Warburg upgraded the issue, citing IBM’s improving outlook for mainframe computers.

Texas Instruments rose 4 1/4 to 105 1/4.

Motorola rose 1 3/4 to 57 5/8.

Merrill Lynch named Texas Instruments to its “Focus 1” list of the week. On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs replaced Texas Instruments with Motorola on its “priority list” but kept “buy” recommendations on both issues.

NASDAQ

Apple rose 1/2 to 38 1/4.

The computer maker distributed its new “Beta” version of the new Mac OS networking and communications systems.

Medaphis Corp. fell 1 11/16 to 56 1/4.

The company, which provides billing services to health care companies, said its first-quarter net income rose 74 percent, to 33 cents per share from 21 cents.

AMEX

Amdahl rose 1 to 11 1/2.

Smith Barney upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral” a day after the company reported lower firstquarter revenues.