NEW YORK -- Stocks moved to higher ground today, as General Electric Co. pushed the Dow up for the first time in a week. Dow up 127
At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 127.70 at 8,823.30.
The Dow had closed lower for the past five sessions amid growing worries about fourth-quarter corporate earnings and the growing realization that President Clinton will be impeached by the House on Thursday. Yesterday marked the Dow's first close below 8,700 since Oct. 30.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 45.68 to 2,012.60 and the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 21.63 at 1,162.83.
Advancers edged decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,619 up, 1,486 down and 472 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 774.72 million shares vs. 695.22 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite index rose 8.21 at 562.74, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 1.88 at 646.11
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.63 to 389.57.
The 30-year Treasury bond was down 22/32 at 103 13/32, with its yield rising to 5.03 percent.
General Electric rose $6.19 to $93 after the company told analysts last night that it felt comfortable with earnings estimates for 1999.
But another disappointing earnings report held back further gains in the Dow. Caterpillar Inc. was down $1.56 to $44.69 after the agricultural machinery concern said it would fail to hit earnings estimates for the fourth quarter as troubles overseas would force it to heavily discount products and leave more inventories in stock.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.08 percent.