NEW YORK - Stocks muscled higher today as Wall Street shrugged off a sharp selloff in Tokyo following the collapse of a major Japanese brokerage. Dow gains 41
The Dow Jones industrial average managed to rise 41.03 points to close at 7,808.95 after meandering from an early 53-point gain to a 28-point loss. Broad-market indicators also turned higher despite today's 5 percent tumble on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Advancers led decliners by a 9-to-8 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,546 up, 1,375 down and 517 unchanged. NYSE volume was 571.13 million shares vs. 513.99 million yesterday.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list rose 4.15 to 950.82, the NYSE composite index gained 1.84 to 496.98, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.06 to 1,589.05.
Smaller-company shares lagged the blue-chip rebound, finishing slightly lower.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 0.92 to 426.91, and the small-company dominated American Stock Exchange composite index fell 1.71 to 661.80.
Meanwhile, the price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 9/32 point, or $2.81 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield slipped to 6.05 percent from 6.06 percent late yesterday.
U.S. and European stocks had already fallen sharply yesterday, with the Dow losing 113 points, on the presumption that Tokyo shares would take a pounding when trading resumed there today after a three-day weekend.
But today in Europe, Frankfurt's DAX index rose 0.5 percent and London's FT-SE 100 slipped 0.7 percent, helping bolster spirits before the open on Wall Street.
Tokyo share prices were dragged lower by worries that Yamaichi Securities Co., which decided to halt operations yesterday with roughly $24 billion in liabilities, may sell off its stock holdings to cover part of its debts.
Reports of the impending failure of Yamaichi first began circulating late Friday, but Japanese financial markets had already closed for an extended holiday weekend, preventing investors there from taking action until this morning.
While the latest developments in Asia were unsettling, there was encouraging news on the domestic front.
Dell Computer Corp., which beat forecasts late yesterday with its latest profit report, rose about 2 percent as the most active Nasdaq issue. That helped lift IBM, which surged 4 percent as the Dow's strongest component, followed by Boeing Co., which rose sharply after announcing that it is making progress with its airplane production problems.
Meanwhile, in a sign that the domestic economic outlook remains strong enough to help offset the impact of weakening demand from foreign markets, a research group reported that U.S. consumer confidence shot higher in November. A real estate industry group reported that sales of previously owned homes rose 1.2 percent in October to a record level.