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Dow up 80.61
Associated PressNEW YORK -- Blue-chip stocks rose today following an upbeat speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that investors took as a sign that the Fed may be done raising rates to slow down the economy. But high-tech issues continued a modest decline. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 80.61 at 10,727.19. Leading the Dow higher were two companies that reported higher-than-expected earnings, International Paper and Alcoa.
The Nasdaq composite index fell 23.87 to 3,956.42 as tech stocks pulled back from a rally earlier in the day. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 5.26 to 1,480.88.
Advancers beat decliners on the New York Stock Exchange with 1,616 up, 1,294 down and 474 unchanged. Volume was 981.37 million shares vs. 819.73 million yesterday. The NYSE composite index rose 3.61 to 659.90, the American Stock Exchange composite index jumped 16.64 to 953.20 and the Russell 2000 index fell 1.09 to 529.74. The 30-year Treasury bond held at a price of 105 3/32 and its yield remained at 5.89 percent.
In a speech to the National Governors' Association, Greenspan repeated his view that the explosion in the use of computers and other high-tech devices has boosted America's productivity -- the amount of output for each hour of work. Increased productivity has been a primary contributor to the nation's long economic expansion.
After the close, Yahoo!, which fell $4.50 to $105.50 in the regular session, reported a second-quarter profit of $65.5 million, or 11 cents a share. Before amortization costs and payroll taxes on employee stock option gains, its profit was $73.99 million, or 12 cents a share. Analyst forecasts ranged from 10 cents to 11 cents. Revenue more than doubled to $270.1 million from $128.6 million, beating the average forecast of $240 million. The stock reached as high as $114 in after-hours trading.