Stocks Gain; Bond Slump Continues --- Dow Jones Industrials Advance 30.19 Points; Dollar Rises Modestly
Stock market investors shrugged off the continuing slump in the bond market and bid prices sharply higher. The dollar rose modestly.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 30.19 to 2976.52 in active trading. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index climbed 3.75 to 380.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose a more modest 2.13 to 515.94.</br></br>Stocks' gains came in the face of a bond sell-off that drove the price of the Treasury's benchmark 30-year bond down nearly five-eighths of a point, or almost $6.25 for each $1,000 face amount. The yield on the issue rose to 7.96%.</br></br>Bond traders said the second day of pronounced weakness in bond prices reflected the continuing effects of poor demand Wednesday for the Treasury's sale of $9.5 billion of seven-year notes. Investors cold-shouldered the issue, causing dealers to mark down bond prices generally to make room for the extra notes they were stuck with.</br></br>In the stock market, sharp gains in some key stocks helped buoy the popular indexes. J.P. Morgan shot up 2 1/2 to 63 3/8 after reporting surprisingly strong thirdquarter profits. International Business Machines gained 2 1/2 to 99 3/4 and General Electric added 1 7/8 to 67 1/4.