Stocks Hit Record High For Fifth Straight Day

Stocks pushed further into record territory Friday and handed Wall Street its 10th straight winning week, helped by a stronger dollar and investor demand for economically sensitive shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 19.37 to close at 4,430.56, establishing a new record for the fifth straight day.

Advancing issues led decliners on the New York Stock Exchange by 1,231 to 990. Volume was moderately heavy at 358.26 million shares as of 4 p.m., down from 371.63 million on Thursday.

Stocks dipped early in the session after the Labor Department said consumer prices rose a disturbing .4 percent in April. That exceeded economist expectations, and it came one day after Labor reported a surprising .5 percent jump in wholesale prices.

The data caused bond investors to worry that inflation may be on the rise. Bond prices fell on the news, initially taking stocks with them. But stocks quickly improved.

“It’s a push-me, pull me contest off of the CPI number,” said Timothy Heekin, head of block trading at Salomon Brothers Inc. “One camp believes rates are headed lower, and one believes they’re headed higher.”

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

NYSE

Ford rose 1 to 28 1/2.

General Motors rose 1 3/8 to 46 5/8.

Chrysler rose 5/8 to 43 1/2.

Auto stocks have been rising, as investors bet that falling interest rates will spur car sales.

Micron Technology rose 2 to 86 1/2.

PaineWebber initiated coverage of the stock with a “buy” rating and estimated 1995 earnings at $7.25 per share. Micron, which makes computer memory chips, earned $3.80 per share in 1994. The company will pay a two-for-one stock split on May 22.

Advanced Micro Devices fell 1 3/8 to 35 5/8.

Merrill Lynch lowered its long-term rating of the stock to “above average” from “buy.”

Abbott Labs fell 2 1/8 to 38 3/8.

The company said late Thursday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had cleared TAP Holdings Inc., a joint venture of Abbott and Japan’s Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd., to sell Prevacid for treatment of erosive esophagitis and active duodenal ulcers. The stock rose 1/2 point on Tuesday.

Caterpillar rose 3 7/8 to 62 7/8.

The construction-machine maker said it received a $22 million order for generator sets from an Australian company.

Sunbeam-Oster rose 1 1/8 to 18 1/2.

The stock was recovering after several days of declines tied to worries that high retail inventories could slow the company’s sales of home appliances.

NASDAQ

Cisco Systems rose 1 1/4 to 45.

Late Thursday, the manufacturer of computer network products said its third-quarter net earnings rose to 45 cents per share from 32 cents, adjusted for a stock split.

WCT Communications rose 2 to 5 5/8.

WCT said it was told by Frontier Corp. that financial covenants contained in the two companies’ merger agreement have been met or waived by Frontier, clearing the way for a merger of the long-distance telephone providers.