Closing Market Report

Associated Press

Monday, March 3, 1997


Late rally
pushes Dow up 41

NEW YORK -- Stocks ended a three-session slump today even though interest rates rose again in the bond market after the latest economic news heightened inflation worries.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 41.18 to 6,918.92. after recovering from a nearly 50-point morning deficit. The blue-chip barometer had lost about 160 points over the previous three sessions amid worries the Federal Reserve is planning to muzzle inflation with higher interest rates.

Advancers outnumbered decliners by a slim margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,290 up, 1,276 down and 772 unchanged.

NYSE volume was 432.63 million shares vs. 508.28 million yesterday.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list rose 4.49 to 795.31, and the NYSE's composite index rose 1.83 to 417.34. The Nasdaq composite index rose 2.19 to 1,311.19, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 0.58 to 594.82.

Big-name technology shares continued Friday's recovery from two weeks of profit-taking.

IBM helped offset a big drop in AT&T shares. AT&T slid as the NYSE's most active issue after company president John Walter cautioned that 1997 profits would be disappointing.

Inflation worries continued to weigh on the bond market amid indications of strong economic growth that could aggravate inflationary pressures.

As bond prices fell today, the yield on the 30-year Treasury rose as high as 6.86 percent, up from late Friday's 6.80 percent. Later, the yield stood at about 6.83 percent.

The long-bond yield hasn't finished a day that high since late January.




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