NEW YORK >> Stocks finished modestly higher today, boosted by late-day bargain-hunting after the Dow Jones industrials pushed close to a five-year low. The gains came despite market wariness about a U.N. deadlock over a war with Iraq. Bargain hunting
lifts stocks
By Hope Yen
Associated PressThe Dow fell as much as 107 points, led by a brokerage downgrade of oil stocks, before rebounding. Still, analysts downplayed the turnaround, noting that volume was light and that the number of declining issues outpaced advancers.
"A lot of the technicals have been talking about the market being oversold," said Mike Weiner, managing director, equities, at Banc One Investment Advisors. "When you start to see things like that, you may see a day or two of rallies."
Declining issues outnumbered advancers about 9 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was light.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 28.01, or 0.4 percent, at 7,552.07, following a two-day loss of 215 points to a five-month low. The Dow is about 265 points above its five-year closing low of 7,286.27, reached on Oct. 9.
The broader market was mixed. The Nasdaq composite index gained 7.67, or 0.6 percent, to 1,279.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 3.46, or 0.4 percent, to 804.19. The Russell 2000 index fell 1.09, or 0.3 percent, to 345.94.
The price of the Treasury's 10-year note was down 1/32 point, while its yield held steady at 3.59 percent. Two-year Treasury notes were down 1/8 point and yielded 1.43 percent, up from 1.37 percent yesterday.
Wall Street has seen choppy trading in recent weeks as investors make short-term bets on whether or when there will be a war with Iraq. Until there is some resolution, businesses will refrain from capital spending sorely needed to revive the economy, they said.
Today, Britain set out a list of conditions for Iraq's disarmament, hoping to break an impasse at the United Nations.
"The best thing that can happen for this market is to set a deadline for war or peace ... so we can turn to concerns that are more economically oriented," said Scott Wren, equity strategist for A.G. Edwards & Sons.
Mixed news on the nation's trade deficit, meanwhile, did little to inspire investors.
The Commerce Department reported today the trade gap narrowed by 8.4 percent in January to $41.1 billion from December's deficit of $44.9 billion. Even with the improvement, however, January's trade gap marked the second biggest monthly deficit on record.
Gainers included Ford, which climbed 48 cents to $7.08, after UBS Warburg upgraded the automaker's stock to "neutral" from "reduce." General Motors rose 71 cents to $30.63.
But oil stocks took a hit on a sector downgrade from J.P. Morgan. ExxonMobil, a Dow component, dropped 51 cents to $34.06, while ChevronTexaco lost 69 cents to $63.05.
AOL Time Warner dropped 42 cents to $10.69 on reports the Securities and Exchange Commission is widening its probe into the media company's accounting practices.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average finished 1 percent higher. In Europe, France's CAC-40 fell 3.6 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 slid 4.8 percent and Germany's DAX index dropped 4.4 percent.
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