Sharp falls on Wall Street last week

Press, 15 February 1982, Page 22

Sharp falls on Wall Street last week

Share prices on Wall Street, fell to their lowest level for four months on Tuesday, when the DowJones industrial index closed at 830.57. ’ ' Although the market recovered a little the next day. it has since then begun to drift lower again. On Friday the Dow Jones closed at 833.81 — a fall of 17.22.p0ints on .the week. Analysts said that President Reagan’s projection of a SUS9I,SOOM budget deficit in fiscal 1983 fuelled concerns that interest rates will remain high for some time to come. “The market could turn around if there is some good news bn interest rates, but otherwise it will continue to test the September low-s” for the next few days, said Harvey Deutsch, an analyst with the brokerage house Purcell Graham. “It's a toss-up at this point whether or not it will turn up at the end of that test.” he added. Wednesday's modest rally was predominantly the result of technical factors, with some support coming from the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (Mr Paul Volcker) reporting to Congress, when he indicated that the central bank might be more flexible in its monetary policy. Mr Volcker said the “Fed" set’its 1982 growth target for M-l at 2.5 to 5.5 per cent, but added that growth in the upper half of that range would be acceptable. M-l comprises cash in circulation and all checking account deposits. Sharp gains in M-l have been cited as main causes of the market’s recent declines, as they have aroused fears that the Fed would tighten

credit, thereby pushing up interest fates.’ However. Monte Gordon, of the brokerage house Dreyfus Corporation, said Mr Volcker’s testimony had few surprises and alone would not cause the market to turn around. Closing prices on Friday of a selection bf issues were:— -Alcan. 19Vi; Alcoa. 23 1 *: Amereda Hess. 19’r. ABC. 32 1 *; Amax, 32‘j; AmExpress, 41*<; Amer Motor. 2%: ATT. 58; Armco, 23 1 i: Asarco. 22*«; Atlanticßich. 39 b s; Bethlehem. 20 s s: Boeing. 187 s; Borden. 30 3 >4; Burroughs Corp, Chrysler. Citicorp, 25; Coca Cola, 32 7S; Col-gate,-IT5 *: CBS. 44; ContinentalGrp. 28’s; Crane. 29‘•'i; DartandKraft. 497fc; DigitalEq. Disnev. 49: Dome Mines, 13v i; Dow Chemicals. 21M; duPont, 36%; East Kodak. 69%: Engelhard. 22%; Exxon. 28%; Firestone. 10 3 e: Fluor, 24%; Ford. 18; Freeport, 19: Gen Dynamics. 24; GenElec. 60: Gen Motors, 36: GenTire. 19%; Getty Oil, 53%; Goodyear. 19%: Greyhound, 15: Grumman. 24%; Gulf Oil, 31; Haliburton. 41%: Homestake. 27%: Honeywell. 71%; IBM. 61; IntlH'arv. 7%; Inco. 13%; ITT. 27; Manville, 16: Johnson. 37%; Kaiser Alum, 14%; K-Mart, 16%; Lockheed. 51%: McDonalds. 60%; McDonDoug, 30; MGMFiIm, 6%: MMM. 55; Mobil, 22%: Monsanto, 69%; NCR, 43%; Newmont, 36%; Pfizer. 55%; PhelDodge. 28%; Phil Pet. 36%: Polaroid. 19%; RCA. 20%: Raytheon, 35%: Reynolds Met. 19%; RoyalDPet, 31%; ■ Seagrams. 53%; Searsßoe. 16%; Shell Oil. 36%: Shell Tr. 26%: Sperry. 30%; Socal, 31%: Soind. 40; Sohio. 33%: Texaco. 30%: Texaslnst. 79%; Union Oil. 31; UnionCarb. 44; USSteel. 23%; Westing Elect. 24; Wwths, 16%; Xerox. 38*:.