Stocks Close In On August Record
Stocks rose modestly Tuesday, wiping out the remaining damage from October’s sell-off and leaving the Dow Jones industrial average just 100 points shy of its first foray into record terrain in half a year.
The Dow opened with a 50-point loss as investors secured some gains from Monday’s 201-point rally, but finished 52.57 higher at 8,160.35.
The blue-chip barometer, which peaked last Aug. 6 at 8,259.31, hasn’t finished a session this high since Oct. 7. That was about three weeks before a financial panic in Asia triggered a record 554-point plunge by the Dow on Oct. 27.
Broad-market indexes also shrugged off some early profit-taking on Tuesday, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the New York Stock Exchange composite padding Monday’s closing records. Trading was extremely heavy again, with more than 700 million shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange for the fourth time in five sessions.
“The fear has turned from one of being in the market to being out of the market because the fundamentals seem to be intact, despite the three crises: Asia, Clinton and Iraq,” said Tony Dwyer, chief equity strategist at Ladenburg Thalmann.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3-to-2 margin on the NYSE, where volume totaled 706.54 million shares.
Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Tuesday:
NYSE
PepsiCo, down 1-5/16 at 35-3/16.
The soft drink and snack maker reported a fourth-quarter profit of $401 million, edging many forecasts. Pepsi said its results were bolstered by its return to Venezuela and growth in several overseas markets.
Newbridge Networks, down 5-1/2 at 20.
The Canadian manufacturer of networking equipment warned late Monday that it will post weak results for its third quarter ended Feb. 1.
Colgate-Palmolive, up 1-1/4 at 75-3/4.
The New York-based company reported a 14 percent improvement in fourth-quarter earnings, boosted by strong sales of new products, especially toothpaste. The results edged many forecasts.
Aztar, up 1 at 9.
The Phoenix-based hotel operator obtained an option to acquire the remaining 50 percent interest in the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Las Vegas for $120 million.
NASDAQ
Intel, up 3-1/4 at 86-5/16.
LSI Logic (NYSE), up 1-13/16 at 27.
Altera, up 2-1/16 at 38-1/2.
Xilinx, up 3/4 at 40-3/4.
Prudential Securities issued a “buy” rating on numerous semiconductor stocks, Dow Jones News Service reported.