Dow Snaps Three-Day Losing Streak

Technology stocks rose out of a deep hole on Thursday, pulling the entire stock market up with them.

The Dow Jones industrials meandered throughout the morning but shot higher around 1:30 p.m., ending up 22.04 at 4,762.71 and breaking a three-day losing streak.

Despite the sizable gain in the Dow, advancers logged only a slim lead on declining issues on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was moderately heavy at 367.41 million shares as of 4 p.m., up from 339.34 million on Wednesday.

Broad market indexes, which are heavily laden with technology shares, rose. Still, there was more nervousness in the market than the rise in indexes might suggest.

“The feeling is that the market’s probably just fine,” said John Burnett, a stock trader at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities.

“But we are up against some pretty lofty levels, and a number of stocks that look like they should have broken out on the upside, did not. There’s just a little bit of a ceiling on things.”

Some of the stocks that moved substantially Thursday:

NYSE

Corning Inc. fell 1-3/8 to 26-1/4.

The company said it would take a third-quarter pretax charge of $62 million to increase accounts receivable reserves at its Corning Clinical Labs unit. The charge will push per-share earnings for the third quarter ending Oct. 8 about 30% below last year’s earnings of 51 cents a share.

Kmart fell 11/16 to 12-13/16.

The discount retail chain said sales in stores open at least a year rose 4.1 percent, but because of margin pressure, third-quarter results will be well below last year’s earnings of 4 cents a share for the quarter.

Circuit City rose 1-5/8 to 32-1/2.

September sales in stores open at least a year rose 8 percent, while total sales rose 33 percent.

NASDAQ

Pride Petroleum rose 3/4 to 95-1/8.

Southcoast Capital upgraded the stock to “strong buy” from “buy.”

Health Management Systems rose 1-7/8 to 27-3/4.

Robertson Stephens started coverage of the company with a “buy” rating, citing good internal growth and “a diversified product line.”

AMEX

Advanced Magnetics rose 2-3/8 to 28.

The company has applied to the Food and Drug Administration for two new products, and expects a profitable year from operations for the first time ever, the Dow Jones News Services reports.