Dow up 103,
flirts with 9,000

NEW YORK -- Stocks regained ground today, boosting the Dow Jones industrial average just shy of 9,000 amid reassuring signs on U.S. business conditions and efforts to revive the Asian economy.

The Dow made two forays above 9,000 before finishing 103.38 points higher at 8,994.86. The blue-chip barometer closed above the 9,000 mark for the first time on Monday, but slid 140 points the next two days amid fears that company profits won't justify the market's record-setting climb.

Advancers outnumbered decliners by more than a 5-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,853 up, 1,091 down and 555 unchanged.

NYSE volume totaled 546.43 million shares vs. 612.01 million yesterday. The Standard & Poor's 500-

stock list rose 9.02 to 1,110.67, the NYSE composite index rose 4.67 to 578.35, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 13.23 to 1,820.24.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 4.07 to 479.40, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 3.11 to 740.61.

The price of the benchmark 30-

year Treasury bond rose 7/32 point, or $2.19 per $1,000 in face value in an abbreviated trading session. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, edged down to 5.88 percent from 5.89 percent late yesterday.

Broad-market indicators posted sizable gains after the government reported that producer prices fell 0.3 percent in March, the sixth straight month without wholesale inflation. Adding to the day's positive tone was news that Japan had moved to prop up the yen and stimulate its economy.