Stocks Continue to Advance: Wide Range of Factors Propels Market Higher
The stock market shot higher yesterday, propelled by a wide range of factorsÛÓincluding hopes for lower interest ratesÛÓthat analysts said could provide the foundation for an old-fashioned summer rally.</br></br>The increase, the marketÛªs biggest in six weeks, added 19.33 points to the Dow Jones industrial average, which closed at 1134.61. The Dow has risen 48.04 points since hitting a 17-month low last Tuesday.</br></br>The buying spree swept through most areas of the stock market, and advancing issues outpaced declines by 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Sixty of the 65 stocks used in compiling the various Dow Jones averages showed increases, with only one declining and the rest unchanged.</br></br>NYSE composite volume was a whopping 146.7 million shares, the fourth-heaviest of the year. It was the 100th time that NYSE volume has exceeded 100 million shares since the exchange first hit that level two years ago. Fourteen of the 15 most active stocks rose; the other was unchanged.</br></br>went up on reports that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is reducing production to increase oil prices. Auto stocks were helped by auto makersÛª announcements of higher production levels and other positive pieces of news from some of the companies. And high-technology stocks were buoyed by the wake from an increase in IBMÛªs dividend and by speculation that newly passed legislation will provide more money to fund high-tech projects.