Wall Street manages
a positive finish

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By Seth Sutel
Associated Press

NEW YORK >> Wall Street scratched out its first winning session in nearly two weeks today in volatile trading that saw investors vacillate between bargain hunting and profit taking.

Analysts were skeptical the gain would last, characterizing the advance as a brief rebound in the market's eight-week selloff. Although some second-quarter reports this week have been encouraging, significant doubts remain about whether stocks still have further to fall. As a result, many investors are reluctant to make big or lasting commitments.

Advancing issues led decliners 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.92 billion shares, up from yesterday's pace of 1.84 billion.

The Dow Jones industrials closed up 69.37, or 0.8 percent, at 8,542.48, after advancing as much as 250 points earlier in the day and then falling into negative territory. Still, the gains were enough to interrupt a seven session, 900-point plunge.

Broader indicators were also higher, despite losing ground from earlier in the session. The Nasdaq composite index was up 21.99, or 1.6 percent, at 1,397.25, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.10, or 0.6 percent, to 906.04. The Russell 2000 index advanced 2.42 at 409.69.

The last time all three indexes closed higher was July 5, when the Dow soared 324, the Nasdaq gained 68 and the S&P advanced 35.

The price of the Treasury's 10-year note was up 1/8 point today, while its yield fell to 4.66 percent from 4.69 percent late yesterday. Two-year Treasury notes gained 1/32 point and yielded 2.59 percent, down from 2.62 percent yesterday.

Today's gains, although modest, were a respite from the spate of volatility the market has been suffering for weeks now.

"You're witnessing a pitched battle between two camps," said Kevin Caron, market strategist at Ryan, Beck & Co. in Livingston, N.J. "You've got the bearish contingent concerned about accounting scandals, and you've got value investors who are looking for bargains."

In trading today, Boeing was up $2.07 at $42.94 after beating expectations by 12 cents a share.

Ford Motor advanced 2 cents to $12.52 on a sharp jump in second quarter profits that beat analysts' expectations by 5 cents per share, breaking a string of four consecutive losing quarters.

But Coca-Cola fell 37 cents to $50despite reporting a 15 percent jump in second-quarter profits.

Financial stocks were mixed. Citigroup, the parent company of Salomon Smith Barney and Citibank, rose 73 cents to $36.93 after reporting results slightly ahead of expectations. But J.P. Morgan Chase fell 36 cents to $28.14 on results that missed Wall Street forecasts.

Technology stocks fared better. Intel soared $1.08 to $19.44 on disappointing second-quarter results and news of 4,000 job cuts. And Juniper Networks rose 90 cents to $9.21.

The fluctuations came on another day of testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who told a House committee he doesn't believe the CEOs of all publicly held companies should be required to verify the accuracy of company finances with federal regulators.

Also today, the Commerce Department reported housing construction fell 3.6 percent in June, but analysts said the figures were still healthy and suggested demand remains strong.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.44 percent. In Europe, Germany's DAX index advanced 2.9 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 surged 4.2 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 3.7 percent.