Monday, March 25, 1996
The blue-chip list ended the day 7.22 higher at 5,643.86.
Decliners led advancers by 1,189 to 1,165 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume totaled 334.72 million shares vs. 329.64 million on Friday.
Broad-market indexes were mostly lower. The NYSE composite was unchanged at 348.77. The S&P 500 list fell 0.59 to 650.03, and the Nasdaq composite fell 15.02 to 1,087.20. The Amex market value index fell 1.58 to 567.77.
With the end of the third quarter coming this weekend, investors are anxious to sell good performers to market profits, or shed less- than-stellar names, said Leon Brand of NatWest Securities.
Brand also pointed out that the Federal Reserve's Open Market policy committee meets Tuesday. "No one wants to get in front of that. They know there probably won't be a cut (in interest rates), but there's always a comment" and that could move the financial markets.
Computer issues were among those vulnerable to nervous profit-taking. Bit losers on the Big Board included IBM, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Digital Equipment. In Nasdaq trading, Cisco Systems, Intel and Microsoft fell.
Meanwhile, the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond was up three-quarters of a point, with its yield, which falls when the price rises, at 6.57 percent, down from 6.64 percent Friday.