NEW YORK >> Investors put their fears about Iraq on hold today, bidding shares higher for a second straight day despite President Bush's warning that a war is more certain. Markets head up
despite war fears
By Amy Baldwin
Associated PressLower prices following two weeks of heavy selling brought bargain hunters to Wall Street. But the market still had to fight hard for its gains -- trading was choppy in response to Bush's State of the Union address last night and bad earnings news from companies including Kraft Foods.
Analysts said the market got little, if any, help from a decision on interest rates by the Federal Reserve. As many analysts had predicted, the Fed left rates unchanged at 1.25 percent and said it was not inclined to lower rates further.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners nearly 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where trading volume was rather light.
After dropping as much as 143.84 in early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 21.87, or 0.3 percent, at 8,110.71. The Dow built on the nearly 100 points gained yesterday to score its first multiple-day advance in two weeks, or since the four-day winning period that ended Jan. 14.
The market's broader gauges also finished higher, having shaken off earlier losses. The Nasdaq composite index rose 15.88, or 1.2 percent, to 1,358.06. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 5.82, or 0.7 percent, to 864.36. The Russell 2000 index rose 1.67, or 0.5 percent, to 374.84.
The price of the Treasury's 10-year note was down 15/32 point, while its yield rose to 4.03 percent from 3.97 percent late yesterday. Two-year Treasury notes were down 1/8 point, while their yield rose to 1.72 percent from 1.65 percent yesterday.
Analysts say the market won't continue to move higher or be able to hold on to gains until it is clear what will happen in Iraq -- when and if there will be a war and how successful the United States is in it.
"It's more difficult for the average investor to concentrate on the fundamentals of buying stocks when war is looming," said Thomas F. Lydon Jr., president of Global Trends Investments in Newport Beach, Calif.
Among today's gainers, Unocal rose 58 cents to $28.46 after the oil and gas company surpassed fourth-quarter earnings estimates by 3 cents a share.
And, biotech firm Biogen rose 45 cents to $37.20 and chip equipment maker Applied Materials advanced 36 cents to $13.60 after UBS Warburg upgraded each of the companies.
But some poor earnings cut into the market's advance. Kraft Foods plunged $4.91 to $31.20 after saying that its 2003 earnings will be hurt by higher pension and retiree medical costs.
Diebold tumbled $4.87 to $35.48 after reporting fourth-quarter profits that missed analysts' expectations.
Japan's Nikkei stock average finished down 2.3 percent. In Europe, France's CAC-40 rose 1.4 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent and Germany's DAX index gained 1.3 percent.
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