Dow up 85.2
despite upheaval

NEW YORK -- Stocks shot higher today, as investors cast aside concerns about the latest U.S. attack on Iraq and the impending presidential impeachment vote.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 85.22 to close at 8,875.82, reaching its peak in the last minutes of trading.

Advancers led decliners by a 4-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,740 up, 1,289 down and 536 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 572.47 million shares, vs. 576.83 million yesterday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 was up 18.02 at 1,179.96, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 34.52 at 2,043.88. The NYSE composite index rose 7.26 at 570.15, but the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 1.01 to 650.43. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.93 to 393.78.

The 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds fell 7/32, or $2.19 per $1,000 bond, to $103.72. Its yield rose 2 basis points to 5.01 percent.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.12 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 1.29 percent, Britain's FT-SE 100 was up 0.97 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 1.18 percent.

Helping U.S. stocks was Chase Manhattan, which says it will substantially beat Wall Street earnings expectations for the fourth quarter.

Oil stocks, which rose yesterday in anticipation of higher petroleum prices related to the brewing trouble in Iraq, failed to sustain the gains today. Chevron Corp. was down $1.50 at $82.621/2 and Atlantic Richfield Co. fell $1.94 at $6.25.