Dow briefly pierces
9,000 mark

The latest jobless report, pointing
to a moderating economy, buoyed traders

Star-Bulletin news services

NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average briefly topped 9,000 a few times today, but fail to clear the milestone by the close of trading.

Still, the U.S. stock market's chief barometer appears on course to reach five figures before the new millennium, analysts said.

"These round numbers tend to provide the market with some short-term magic," said Clifford Fox, a money manager at Columbus Circle Investors in Stamford, Conn., which oversees about $9 billion. "As long as interest rates are flat to down, and earnings hold up, it's a pretty good environment."

In early trading, the 101-year-old average surged as high as 9030.49, extending a rally that doubled share prices since June 1995. It traded around 9,000 for most of the day.

But by the close, the Dow had fallen 3.23 points to end the week at 8983.41.

So far this year, the Dow industrials are up 13.6 percent; if they managed to keep that pace up all year, they'd close 1998 with a roughly 65 percent gain.

Today's early rally, led by General Electric Co., was fueled by the same things that propelled stocks higher this decade: benign inflation and low interest rates.

The Labor Department this morning said the U.S. economy lost 36,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate rose to 4.7 percent from 4.6 percent in February. The department attributed the March drop in jobs to an unusual hiring pattern when mild weather caused by the El Nino current in the Pacific Ocean permitted construction to continue through the winter in many parts of the country.

Bond yields fell after the report, because less robust growth in the economy is seen as a sign that inflation won't accelerate and interest rates can remain low. Lower rates mean more demand for goods and services and healthier profit margins for financial companies like Chase Manhattan and Citicorp.

The yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond -- which moves opposite to the price -- plunged to 5.79 percent by late afternoon from 5.84 percent late yesterday. The drop, if it sticks, could bring mortgage rates lower.

"There's a lot of support under this market, and it doesn't appear to be going away," said Peter

Mackie, executive vice president in charge of investment and trust decisions at Commerce Bank Investment Management Corp. in St. Louis, which oversees $8 billion.

The frequency of 1,000-point milestones is increasing as prices climb. Seven of the Dow industrials' nine 1,000-point barriers were passed this decade.

The Dow industrials crossed 8,000 on July 16; it took the average 76 years to cross 1,000 for the first time and another 15 years to pass 2,000. On April 17, 1991, the Dow climbed past 3,000; it took four years to surpass 4,000 and then nine months to top 5,000. On Oct. 14, 1996, the average pulled past 6,000 and four months later it reached 7,000. To top 10,000, the Dow needs to climb 11 percent.

"Every time we hit a 1,000 mark, we go out and get a martini," said Jeff Buyak, who helps oversee $1 billion in stocks and bonds at Stratevest Group in Worcester, Mass. "We've had a lot of them the past couple of years."

In trading today, declining issues led advancers by a narrow margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 299.80 million shares, just below 300.82 million shares yesterday.

Broader market indexes also extended their recent record runs.

The Standard & Poor's 500 list was up 1.25 at 1,121.26, the NYSE composite index was higher 0.54 at 582.58 and the American Stock Exchange composite index was up 1.19 at 748.22. The Nasdaq composite index was up 3.83 at 1,856.79.

Overseas today, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average fell 1.2 percent.

---

Bloomberg News and the Associated Press
contributed to this report.