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Dow up 49.85
Associated PressNEW YORK - Stocks ended a difficult first half of the year on an upbeat note today as institutional investors bought the year's big winners and discarded underperforming issues.
Rallying in the final hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average erased a small loss and finished up 49.85 to close at 10,447.89. For the week, the Dow added 43.14. The Nasdaq composite index, lifted by computer chips and semiconducter stocks, rose 88.88 to 3,966.11. The Nasdaq added 120.78 for the week.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 12.21 to close the week at 1,454.60.
For the first six months of 2000, the Dow is down 9.1 percent, the Nasdaq is off 2.5 percent and the S&P 500 is just less than 1 percent lower.
Trading was choppy today, the day before a long weekend for many investors who plan to skip Monday's abbreviated trading session. U.S. financial markets will close three hours early Monday and be closed Tuesday in observance of Independence Day.
Advancers barely beat decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,510 up, 1,503 down and 377 unchanged. NYSE volume came to 1.4 billion shares, up from 1.1 billion shares yesterday. It was the third heaviest trading volume ever on the NYSE.
The NYSE composite index rose 0.18 today to close at 642.93 and the American Stock Exchange composite index slipped 3.45 to 935.89. The Russell 2000 index gained 4.65 at 517.23, and is up 2.5 percent so far in the first half of the year.
The 30-year Treasury bond fell 1/4 point, or $2.50 per $1,000 face amount; its yield rose 3 basis points to 5.90 percent. The 10-year note rose 1/32 point, while its yield fell held at 6.02 percent.
Computer chip stocks moved higher after the Semiconductor Industry Association said worldwide chip sales reached an all-time high of $15.8 billion in May, up 39.8 percent from $11.3 billion a year ago. That helped pushed Rambus up $2.06 to $103.
JDS Uniphase rose $3.50 to $119.87-1/2 after being added to PaineWebber's "Highlighted Stocks" list.