Star-Bulletin news services
Steady Wall Street
hangs on to gains
NEW YORK >> Investors set aside disappointing employment data and lackluster retail sales reports yesterday, limiting their profit-taking in a market that eked out incremental gains and kept stocks at their highest levels in months.
The gains, albeit small, sustained a rally that drove the Dow Jones industrial average Wednesday to its first close above 9,000 in nearly 10 months. The Dow finished virtually even yesterday but the number of advancing issues significantly outnumbered decliners.
The Dow closed up 2.32, essentially unchanged, at 9,041.30. That followed a rise of more than 100 points on Wednesday, when it closed above 9,000 for the first time since Aug. 22.
The broader market also finished higher. The Nasdaq composite gained 11.36, or 0.7 percent, to 1,646.01. The Nasdaq is trading at levels not seen since May 2002.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 3.90, or 0.4 percent, to 990.14. The S&P is at levels not seen since July.
Advancing issues lead decliners on the NYSE by a 3-to-2 ratio. Trading volume totaled 1.68 billion shares, compared with 1.60 billion exchanged at the same point Wednesday.
The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, rose 5.46, or 1.2 percent, to 456.69. The NYSE composite index gained 27.08 to 5,585.50. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 7.62 to 958.78.
At the end of yesterday's trading, the Dow had risen 20.2 percent, the Nasdaq had gained 29.5 percent and the S&P had climbed 23.1 percent since March 11.
Analysts said that despite the limited nature of yesterday's gains, the fact that there was not a broader sell-off indicates a growing sentiment by investors that the market is rebounding.
"We've been in a long and deep bear market and investors feel like the worst is over, and what appeals to them more than anything is some of the stocks that have gotten hit the worst," said Richard E. Cripps, chief market strategist for Legg Mason of Baltimore.
Investors have been encouraged by better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, signs of economic improvements and upbeat assessments of the economy by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
"People are anticipating that the economy is going to continue to grow -- slowly, but nonetheless we are coming up from a very depressed level," said Richard A. Dickson, senior market strategist at Lowry's Research Reports in Palm Beach, Fla.
Even so, investors remain cautious ahead of the government's release today of May jobless figures.
Yesterday, disappointing employment data and lackluster retail sales for May prompted some investors to sell stock and lock in profits.
The Labor Department reported yesterday that the number of American workers filing new claims for jobless benefits climbed to a five-week high last week, indicating that companies are still contending with an economy that is struggling for footing.
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