Wall Street last week

Press, 12 May 1980, Page 28

Wall Street last week

. Increasing recession worries caused broad losses on the Wall Street eharemarket last week; the Dow Jones industrial index lost 5.12 points during the week to close on Friday at 805.80. The Government reported that United States producer prices of -finished goods rose 0.5 per cent in April, their smallest increase since May of last year. That had been widely expected, and meanwhile the market had to contend with a forecast from economists of the Business Council, a prominent organisation, predicting a slowdown about as severe as any

in the post-war period except 1974-75. A survey of purchasing managers concluded that the economy plummeted in April, confirming a Labour Department report that unemployment rose to 7 per cent in the month. On Tuesday, the nation’s largest manufacturer. Genera! Motors, cut its dividend rate. .. . .. ■ Meanwhile the:bank prime lending, rate. .continued its decline in the the steep .'slide iir open-market interest rates'; Rates .on sixmonth U.S. Treasury Bills have fallen from 15.7 per

cent a month ago to 9.5 pei cent last week. Several banks lowered their broker loan rates to 16$ per cent, and Home Savings! and Loan, on the West Coast# slashed its prime mortgage! rate to 12-J per cent, from 171 per cent. [ -. This had a bullish effect ori the sharemarket in the middle! of the week, but the trend was not sustained. [Closing prices on Friday of a selection of shares were:— - ABC, 26 1/4; Alcan,' 23 3/8; Alcoa, 53 f/2; Amax, 41 7/8; Amarada Hess, 42 5/8; Am Express# 32 1/2; Am Motors, 5 1/4; Armco# 27 1/8; Asarco, 30 7/8; AT and T.52 7/8; Atl Rich, 44; Beth Stl, 20 5/8; Boeing, 32 1/2; Borden, 22-3/4; Burroughs, 16 7/8; CBS, 43 1/2; Citicorp, 21 1/4; Coca Cola, 34 3/8; Cont OU, 43 1/2; Digital Eq, 61 3/8; Disney, 46; Dome Mines, 53 1/4; Dow, 31 1/8; Du Pont, 36 3/4;- East Kodak, 50; Engelhard, 26; Exxon, 59 5/8; Firestone, 7; Ford, 23; Free Min, 32 5/8; Gen Dynam, 6Q 1/4: Gen. Elect. 46 7/8; Gen Motors, 41' 5/8; Gen Tyres, 16 1/8; Goodyear, 12; Greyhound, 16 1/2; Grumman, 21 5/8: Gulf Oil, 38 1/2: Haliburton, 98 1/2; Homestake, 45 3/4; Honeywell, 70 7/8; IBM, 52 3/8; Int Harv, 23 3/8; Inco, 19 1/2; ITT, 26 3/8; Johns Manv, 21 5/8; J and J. 76 7/8: Kaiser Alum, 18 5/8; Kennecott, 24 3/4; K-Mart, 22 1/2; Lockheed, 28 3/8; McDonalds. 44; McDon Doug, 25. 7/8; MGM, 19 3/4; MMM> 53 1/4; Mobil, 65; Monsanto. 46 3/8: NCR, 52 3/4; Newm Min, 31 1/4; .'Pfizer, 38 7/8; Phel Dodge, 26 3/4; Phil Pet, 39 3/4; Polaroid, 22 1/2; Pullman, 28 3/4; Raytheon, 70 1/8; RCA. 21 3/4; Reyn Metal, 30 1/8; Royal Dutch, 76; Seagram, 51 1/4; Sears Roe, .17; Shell Oil. 63 3/8: Shell Trans, 32; Sperry Rand, 45 5/8; St Joe, 39; Socal, 66; Texaco, 34; Texas Gulf, 32 3/4: Texas Inst; 82 1/2; Union Carbide, 39 1/2; Union Oil. 46 1/4; US Steel, 17 3/4; Westinghouse, 22 7/8; W’wths, 25 5/8; Xerox, 49 7/8.