Bad News Discounted ********** ******* **  
I NEW YORK. April 26 WÛÓThe ! stock market smashed forward to a new 1958 high this week in heavy trading.</br></br>' Stocks broke through the narrow trading range which has confined them for nearly five months as they extended their rise into the third straight week. 4</br></br>The level of prices is now at its highest since last Oct. 4. That was the time when the market was falling rapidly to a new series of two-year lows, so the present level is nothing to rave about from an his-tnrical viewpoint. But it is excellent for this year.</br></br>The market began the past week after equaling the yearÛªs high of $165.00 in the Associated Press average, reached on Feb. 4. Could i stock prices exceed that in view of i the dismal first quarter earnings I reports which were anticipated this j past week? They didÛÓand part of ! the answer lies in the fact that the I poor earnings reports had been 1 very well anticipated.	j</br></br>Apparently investors found that the financial news wasnÛªt as bad \ as it could be. At the same time, they heard various predictions of an upturn later this year. They placed their bets on a better business prospect later in Ûª58.