Late Rally Catapults Dow To Another Record

Stocks vaulted into record territory Tuesday as a burst of late buying reversed a quiet session on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 78.50 to 7,067.46, with most of its gains coming in the final hour of trading. That pushed the blue-chip index well above Thursday’s record of 7,022.44.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock list and the NYSE’s composite index also hit new highs Tuesday, while the Nasdaq composite index was the only loser for the day.

“We are seeing selected stocks that are extremely strong and that’s behind much of this late-day rally,” said Anthony O’Bryan, a market analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis.

Stocks seesawed for most of the day as cautious investors tried to determine whether the market would continue its upward drive. On Friday, before the market took a three-day weekend off, the Dow lost 33.48 points as investors cashed in on the stunning rally that had sent the Dow past 7,000 for the first time.

NYSE volume totaled 474.07 million shares as of 4 p.m., vs. 480.14 million in the previous session. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 13-to-9 margin on the New York Stock Exchange.

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

NYSE

Great Western Financial, up 10-5/8 to 44-7/8.

H.F. Ahmanson, up 4-3/8 to 44-7/8.

Irwindale, Calif.-based H.F. Ahmanson, the parent of Home Savings of America, has unveiled a hostile $5.9 billion offer for its biggest competitor, Great Western Financial Corp. of Los Angeles.

HealthSouth, down 2-1/8 to 41.

Horizon/CMS Healthcare, up 2-3/8 to 16-5/8.

Birmingham, Ala.-based HealthSouth Corp., the nation’s leading medical rehabilitation company, is buying No. 2 Horizon/CMS Healthcare Corp. of Albuquerque, N.M., for about $950 million in stock.

Marriott International, up 1 to 56-1/4.

Renaissance Hotel Group, up 4-5/8 to 29-3/4.

Doubletree, up 2-1/2 to 43-1/8 on the Nasdaq.

Marriott International is acquiring Renaissance Hotel Group, opening up 40 international markets to Marriott, in a deal valued at about $1 billion. Marriott’s agreement outbid Doubletree Corp., which had an earlier deal to buy Hong Kong-based Renaissance for $890 million.

NASDAQ

Boyds Wheels, down 4-3/8 to 9-7/8.

The Stanton, Calif.-based maker of aluminum automotive and motorcycle wheels said it will report lower-than-expected earnings for 1996.

Atlas Air, down 10 to 24-1/2.

The Golden, Colo.-based carrier said that its fourth-quarter earnings were below expectations. Atlas earned 60 cents a share for the quarter, below analysts’ expectations of 63 cents a share.