Rate Concerns Leave Stocks Mixed; Industrials Decline 5.03, to 1181.53
The stock market tried to push its rally into a fourth session yesterday but finished with mixed results in slower but still active trading of nearly 92 million shares.</br></br>Blue-chip and technology issues, which had been leaders earlier in the week, mostly retreated and were joined by the chemical, retail, auto and some of the oil, airline and drug stocks.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up a total 17.49 points in the prior three days, showed a slight gain after yesterday's first half hour but by 1:30 p.m. EDT was down 6.28 points. The index halved its loss in the next hour but then fell, closing at 1181.53, down 5.03 points. The transportation indicator also lost ground, but the utility average rose.</br></br>New York Stock Exchange gainers managed to nose out the losers 793 to 783.</br></br>"The stock market is still bothered somewhat by interest rates," asserted Edward P. Nicoski, first vice president at Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood, Minneapolis. Yesterday several key interest rates moved up slightly. After the close, the Federal Reserve reported that for the week ended April 23 the nation's basic money supply fell $3.6 billion. That was a somewhat greater drop than expected and thus could slightly ease upward pressures on interest rates. But analysts continue to fret over the size of the Treasury's planned securities offerings and signs of continued vigorous economic growth.