Easing Tensions Fuel Stock Rally

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 100 points for a second straight session Wednesday, wiping out the remnants of a worrisome new year’s slide as the tensions over Asia and the White House crisis eased.

The Dow rose 100.39 to 7,915.47, its best close since Jan. 5, and now is up 7.22 since the start of 1998.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 also pushed back into positive territory for 1998 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index shot above 1,600 for the first time since Dec. 10.

Before Tuesday, the market had been mired in a four-session slump, weighed down by all the uncertainty about how much the Asian economic crisis will hurt the U.S. economy and whether the Monica Lewinsky controversy will seriously impair President Clinton’s leadership at home and abroad.

“Today, the chatter does not seem to be, ‘Will (President Clinton) resign by Friday?’ And it was on Monday,” said Charles G. Crane, chief market strategist at Key Asset Management.

Trading was extremely heavy again, with 711.26 million shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.

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

NYSE

Coca-Cola, up 7/8 at 64-1/8.

The soft drink giant posted a fourth-quarter profit of $817 million, a 7 percent increase, but slightly shy of Wall Street forecasts.

UAL, up 1-11/16 at 88-1/4.

The parent of United Airlines and Shuttle by United reported a 63 percent jump in fourth-quarter profits citing increased domestic passenger traffic and higher ticket prices. The profit of $231 million, or $1.74 a diluted share, exceeded Wall Street forecasts.

NASDAQ

Oracle, up 2-3/16 at 21-3/16.

Larry Ellison, chief executive of the struggling database software company, made positive comments about the industry and the company at a technology conference in San Francisco. Ellison predicted that Oracle’s database sales would grow 25 percent in North America during the current quarter.

Egghead, down 1-3/8 at 6-3/8.

The software retailer plans to close its 80 stores and shift its focus to Internet commerce due to declining sales and continued losses. The announcement came as Egghead reported a loss of $6.6 million for the final three months of 1997.