Strong Earnings Propel Dow To Record High
A late rebound lifted several stock measures to new highs Wednesday as the bond market recovered from much of a sharp jump in interest rates and as bellwether companies continued to report strong profits.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 16.03 to 6,020.81, bouncing back from a 35-point plunge and beating Monday’s record finish - the Dow’s first-ever above 6,000 - by nearly 11 points.
Broad-market indexes also recovered as bargain-hunters moved into the market, with the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock list setting a new high.
But heavy profit-taking after three strong sessions for computer-related shares left the Nasdaq market, a record-setter on Monday and Tuesday, with too steep a loss to fully recover.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a small margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled 441.41 million shares as of 4 p.m., down slightly from Tuesday’s tally.
Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Wednesday:
NYSE
Ford Motor, down 7/8 at 32-3/8.
Crowning a powerful third-quarter performance by the Big Three automakers, Ford joined Chrysler and General Motors in reporting a $686 million profit that nearly doubled the results of last year’s July-September period.
Sears, Roebuck, up 2 at 50-1/2.
The retailer’s third-quarter earnings rose 22.4 percent to $279 million, or 68 cents a share, exceeding expectations largely on the strength of increased credit revenues.
Compaq Computer, down 1-1/8 at 73-5/8.
The world’s fifth-largest computer company said its third-quarter profits rose 43 percent to $350 million, or $1.26 a share, soundly beating analysts forecasts.
Olympic Financial, down 3-3/8 at 17.
A potential buyer decided not to make an offer for Olympic, a Minneapolis-based auto-financing company, Olympic said its financial adviser, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, will continue to examine strategic alternatives.
NASDAQ
Sun Microsystems, down 6-7/8 at 63-1/8.
Buoyed by demand for its business computers, Sun reported a 45 percent jump in profits to $123.4 million, or 63 cents a share, for its first quarter ended Sept. 29, exceeding most forecasts.
Amgen, down 1-1/8 at 58-1/2.
The biotech company’s third-quarter earnings rose 23 percent to $179 million, or 64 ents a share, on increased sales of its blood cell promoting drugs Epogen and Neupogen.
Clarify, up 6-1/4 at 48-1/4.
The computer network management company posted third-quarter earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates. Clarify said it earned $3.2 million, or 15 cents a share, largely because of a $4 million order from Sprint Spectrum LP.