Dow Extends Streak To Five Days

The Dow industrials managed to extend its recordsetting performance into a fifth straight day and even flirted with 8,400 despite persistent profit-taking Tuesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average at one point was up 76 points at 8,446.32. It finished with a gain of 28.40 to close at 8,398.50.

The five-session string of new highs followed a six-month drought in records for Wall Street’s best-known indicator and is the longest streak since the six-session string of records last June.

With Tuesday’s gain, the Dow is now up 818 points since Jan. 9, when it sank to 7,580.42. The blue-chip index, which dropped 4 percent over the first six trading days of 1998, is now up 6.2 percent on the year.

Broad-market indexes were mixed, but the New York Stock Exchange composite index also set a new record.

“Today’s really a consolidation day,” said Charles Blood, senior financial markets analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. “Last week was a pretty good week, and we had carryover strength from the start.”

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 9-to-8 margin on the NYSE, where volume totaled 598.06 million shares, compared with 531.03 million Friday. Markets were closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.

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

NYSE

ConAgra, down 3-1/16 at 28-15/16.

The company said late Friday that it doesn’t expect to achieve its double-digit earnings growth target in 1998. The company expects its troubled meat and poultry businesses to drag down earnings.

Computer Associates International, down 2-5/16 at 46-1/16.

Computer Sciences Corp., down 13/16 at 106-9/16.

Computer Associates launched a hostile $9.2 billion offer for Computer Sciences after the computer services company rejected a sweetened bid over the weekend.

Beneficial, up 30-5/8 at 112-7/8.

Beneficial, the nation’s third-largest consumer finance firm, is considering selling the whole company.

NASDAQ

Applied Graphics Technologies, up 2-3/8 at 52-1/2.

Devon, up 14-1/8 at 60-5/8.

Applied Graphics Technologies agreed to buy Devon Group Inc. for $440 million in cash and stock.

Microsoft, down 3-1/8 at 154-3/8.

The computer giant slid amid general downward pressure on technology stocks, as investors looked for profits ahead of earnings reports.