Dow Snaps Four-Day Losing Streak

The Dow industrials snapped a four-day losing streak but was unable to sustain a fresh assault on the record books Tuesday. Blue chips fell back to a small gain in the closing minutes as traders adjusted portfolios at the quarter’s end.

In the broad advance of the overall market, the Nasdaq composite index set a record.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 17.69 to close at 8,799.81. Earlier in the day the market had risen as much as 116.84 to 8,898.96 - approaching its March 20 record of 8,906.43.

Still, the slight gain shook off four days of losses that had dragged the Dow down more than 122 points between Wednesday and Monday’s close of 8,782.12.

The gain also capped a surprising runup in a market that was expected to be listless in 1998 after an unprecedented three straight years of double-digit gains.

During the quarter, the Dow has risen 11 percent and the Nasdaq has risen almost 17 percent.

“We’ve had a pretty large gain in the market without an intervening correction,” said Steven Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co. of Greenwich, Conn. “That is typically positive for the market.”

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by an 11-to-6 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume soared to 656 million shares, compared with 496.70 million shares the previous day.

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

NYSE

Motorola Inc., up 3-5/16 at 60-3/4.

The maker of cellular phones, pagers, two-way radios and semiconductors plans to announce a major restructuring within weeks to boost its ability to compete, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., up 2-1/2 at 29-1/16.

An investment firm reported that the company significantly improved the number of usable K6 chips produced in the first quarter.

RadiSys Corp., down 6-1/2 at 25-1/8.

The computer equipment maker issued a dour profit outlook late Monday, according to Dow Jones News Services.

American Home Products, up 3-5/8 at 95-3/8.

Schroder & Co upgraded its rating on the company to “outperform significantly” from “outperform,” Dow Jones News Services quoted CNBC television network as reporting.

NASDAQ

Dell Computer, up 9/16 at 67-3/4.

The company reported that fourth-quarter shipments of notebook computers rose 103 percent, Dow Jones News Services reported.