Dow Posts Modest Gain On Greenspan Comments
Stock prices posted modest gains today after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the economy is slowing its torrid pace but not heading into recession.</br></br>The central bank's chief also said the Fed might hold interest rates steady as the economy cools down.</br></br>The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 9.08 points at 3973.05. Advancing issues led declining ones by about 5 to 4 on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume climbed to 339.2 million shares from 308.1 million Tuesday.</br></br>Blue-chip issues made the strongest gains, but broad market indexes also moved higher. The NYSE's composite index rose 1.06 to 263.04, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 2.33 to 485.07 and the Nasdaq index gained 3.31 to 787.93. The American Stock Exchange index climbed 1.07 to 448.58.</br></br>"Greenspan didn't say anything that upset the apple cart, so it gave us a little extra boost," said Peter Coolidge, senior equity trader at Brean Murray, Foster Securities.