NEW YORK - Stocks closed marginally higher today as Goodyear provided the first major blemish in an otherwise stellar earnings season and prevented blue-chip stocks from recouping yesterday's losses. Dow up 6.65
Associated PressThe Dow Jones industrial average rose 6.65 to close at 11,002.78, having erased a gain of nearly 60 points. It was the third straight decline for the blue-chip index, which reached a new record close just last Friday.
Broader stock indicators fared better than the Dow. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 2.19 to 1,379.29, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 29.59 to 2,761.77
Advancers beat decliners by roughly a 10-to-9 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,487 up, 1,401 down and 633 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 787.75 million shares vs. 756.07 million yesterday. The NYSE composite index rose 0.21 to 647.48, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 0.91 to 806.81. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.08 to 454.63.
The 30-year Treasury bond slipped 7/32, or $2.19 per $1,000 face amount, to 90 7/8. Its yield rose 2 basis points to 5.90 percent.
Today, Goodyear became one of just a handful of companies to post disappointing results. The tire and rubber maker, a component of the Dow industrials, said second-quarter earnings fell 67 percent, steeper than analysts had expected.
America Online Inc., the world's largest Internet service, jumped $5.31 to $118.50 ahead of its earnings report which was announced after the market closed. The company said it earned 13 cents a share in its fiscal fourth quarter, more than the 11-cent average estimate from analysts polled by First Call.