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Closing Market Report

Star-Bulletin news services

Friday, August 31, 2001


Stocks end sour week with gain


By Alan Clendenning
Associated Press

NEW YORK >> Wall Street ended a terrible week with a blip upward today, but the modest advance, the outcome of a difficult and choppy session, only underscored how fragile and fractious the stock market has become.

The gain wasn't enough to bring the Dow Jones industrials back above 10,000, one day after the blue chips fell below that mark for the first time since April 9.

An unexpectedly strong report on factory orders sent stocks surging early in the session, but the good news was quickly overshadowed by investors' longstanding concerns over the lackluster economy and disappointing company profits. The Dow, up more than 100 points in the early going closed ahead 30.17 at 9,949.75. The Nasdaq composite index rose 13.75 at 1,805.43, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index edged up 4.55 to 1,133.58.

Advancers led decliners by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,694 up, 1,364 down and 245 unchanged. Volume was 907.51 million shares vs. 1.14 billion yesterday. The NYSE composite index rose 1.74 to 587.84, the American Stock Exchange composite index gained 2.42 to 873.40 and the Russell 2000 index rose 0.50 to 468.56. The Treasury's 10-year note fell 5/32 to 101 - 10/32; its yield rose 2 basis points to 4.83 percent. The 30-year bond rose 1/4 to 100 - 3/32; its yield fell 2 basis points to 5.37 percent.

Today's listless performance followed four straight days of declines that sent the Dow down more than 500 points or nearly 5 percent. Yesterday, the Dow dropped 1.7 percent -- closing below the 10,000 level for the first time in four months -- after a spate of bad economic and corporate news.

The fluctuations during today's trading were "just vacillation," said Jon Brorson, director of equities at Northern Trust. "Investors are in an 'I don't want to shoot until I see the whites of their eyes' mode."

Concerned about the market's previous selloffs, investors have been reluctant to buy because they sense no immediate possibility for a recovery in share prices.

They're also waiting in vain for a solid string of news from the government or companies that the economy may be ready for a turnaround.

"We need tangible evidence of a bottom to restore confidence," Brorson said.

The Commerce Department report today that factory orders rose 0.1 percent gave investors an excuse to snap up bargains, but experts said the uptick was little more than temporary burst of buying.

"It's very hard to be confident and make any bold statements here about economic recovery when the people actually running the companies have no idea how business is going to be a few months from now," said Charles White of Avatar Associates.



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