NEW YORK -- Stocks faded into the close today, managing only marginal gains in an uneventful sequel to yesterday's powerful rally, which propelled the Dow Jones industrial average to its biggest one-day point gain ever. Dow gains 14.86
The Dow rose 14.86 points to close at 7,894.64, down from an earlier 65-point gain.
Broader indicators also posted slim gains, but it was enough to give the Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks its fifth consecutive closing record.
Advancers beat decliners by a 3-to-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,750 up, 1,155 down and 502 unchanged. NYSE volume was 548.69 million shares vs. 491.83 million yesterday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 list rose 0.27 to 927.85, the NYSE index climbed 0.81 to 483.71, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.15 to 1,618.24. The Russell 2000 rose 0.74 to 428.79. And the American Stock Exchange composite index gained 3.13 to 660.00, for its second straight closing high.
Stocks were rising steadily during the afternoon until interest rates rose in the bond market after the release of some robust auto sales data that stoked the market's nagging fears of inflationary economic growth. The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was down 16/32 point while its yield rose to 6.60 percent from 6.55 percent late yesterday. Yesterday, the Dow gained 257.36 points -- beating the previous one-day record of 186.84 points that came after the Black Monday crash of October 1987.
There was limited reaction to today's news that the Leading Economic Indicators index rose 0.3 percent in July, a shade above forecasts.