Abreast of the Market: Stocks Are Mixed in Dull Trading on Uncertainty over the Economy
Stocks ended mixed in trading that, by recent standards, was lethargic.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 6.48 points to 3215.12. But Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 0.77 to 405.21 and the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index gained 0.36 to 224.15. Advancing Big Board issues barely surpassed decliners, 884 to 852.</br></br>Volume fell to 160,620,000 shares on the Big Board from 185,040,000 Friday. Both days were relatively light compared with other sessions so far this year. At the end of February, average daily Big Board volume for 1991 was 233.17 million shares.</br></br>Some investors may have been unwilling to take positions ahead of today's "Super Tuesday" presidential primaries. But traders suggest that the light volume is also indicative of investors' ambivalence toward stocks while the economic recovery remains uncertain.</br></br>Traders said the stock market probably will remain lackluster until investors see evidence of an economic turnaround in the form of good corporate earnings. Firstquarter profit reports won't start pouring forth until mid-April.