Dow Snaps Losing Streak, Stocks Edge Lower
The Dow Jones industrial average snapped a five-session losing streak with a tiny gain, but most stocks ended lower Monday in lifeless trading.
Technology and more-speculative issues struggled again amid concerns about profits, weighing down the Nasdaq market.
The Dow industrials rose just 3.33 to 5,652.78, giving back most of a late rally with bonds, but ending a five-session slide that had amounted to less than 50 points, punctuating the prevailing uncertainties about the direction of inflation and interest rates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 10-to-9 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled just 298.33 million shares as of 4 p.m. That was well below Friday’s total and the first tally below 300 million since late December.
“We may be setting the tone for the summer,” said Ned Riley, chief investment officer at the Bank of Boston.
Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Monday:
NYSE
Kansas City Power & Light, up 1-1/2 at 27-3/8.
Western Resources increased its uninvited, all-stock offer for Kansas City Power & Light by about $200 million to $1.9 billion. Western Resources is in a bidding war for KCPL with UtiliCorp United, which agreed in January to acquire KCPL for about $1.7 billion. Under its latest offer, Western Resources said it would exchange stock worth $31 for each KCPL share, up from its offer of $28 a share in April that KCPL’s directors rejected.
Fredericks of Hollywood Class A, up 7/8 at 5.
Fredericks of Hollywood Class B, up 1 at 4-7/8.
The lingerie retailer announced late Friday the investment bank Janney Montgomery Scott has been hired to consider options for the controlling stake held by trusts for Fredericks’ founders. The options include the sale of the 50.2 percent stake, a merger, and a buyback.
NASDAQ
Microsoft, up 1-5/8 at 124-5/8
The software giant indicated that forecasts for its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings to rise 46 percent are in line with company expectations. Analysts have been projecting Microsoft will earn about 85 cents a share for the three months ending June 30. At a conference, company officials also told investors Microsoft’s share of the Internet browser market is about 10 percent.
Varlen, up 1-3/4 at 24-3/4.
Brenco, up 3-3/4 at 16.
Varlen agreed to acquire Brenco, a maker of railroad-car bearings, for $165 million, or about $16.12 a share, in cash. Varlen, a maker of engineered products for the transportation industry, has been acquiring small companies in recent years to capitalize on a growing international market for railroad parts.