WALL STREET Stocks dip at end of another boom week

Press, 21 April 1986, Page 28

WALL STREET Stocks dip at end of another boom week

NZPA-AP New York New Year stock prices fell on Friday, recording the market’s first loss of the week. The Dow Jones average of 30 Industrials dropped 14.63 points to close at 1840.40, cutting its gain for the week to 50.22 points. Analysts said traders proceeded cautiously on the final day of trading for some stock options and stock-index futures. Programme trading involving these contracts and individual stocks helped to produce some sharp swings in the market on expiration days in the past. On Friday, blue-chip issues took a quick dive in the last few minutes of trading. However, observers saw potential benefit for the market in the news that Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries Ministers had made no apparent progress towards an agreement on a plan to shore up oil prices.

Crude oil futures for May delivery traded on Friday afternoon at SUSII.BO a barrel, down 3c from Thursday’s settlement price on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Advancing issues outpaced declines by about 10 to nine on the New York Stock Exchange. The week began with the market pushing ahead in relatively quiet trading on the strength of hopes

for continuing declines in interest rates.

Widespread expectations had developed on Wall Street that new cuts in central-bank discount rates were coming soon in this country and other leading industrialised nations. There were reports that Japanese and U.S. officials had agreed on such a step. (The cut was made on Friday.) But analysts said some traders were reluctant to bid aggressively for stocks until they knew what action President Reagan would take against Libya.

Brokers also observed that U.S. economic growth lately had fallen short of the high hopes implied by the stock market’s sharp rise since September.

The Dow Jones rose 15.13 points to close at 1805.31. On Tuesday, the market finished mixed in moderate trading after a see-saw session marked by uncertainty over the consequences of the U.S.-Llbya row. The Dow Jones rose 4.34 points. On Wednesday, the market soared to new record highs as oil prices and interest rates fell. The Dow Jones climbed 38.32 points to close at 1847.97, for its fourth largest gain in points. The average easily topped the previous record closing high of 1821.72, set on March 27. Analysts said investors were relieved that the U.S. bombing of sites in Libya had not produced any apparent disruptions of the securities and commodities markets.

Fears that oil prices might be pushed up gave way to

new declines in the oil market as traders concluded that OPEC was still having trouble agreeing on measures to support prices. Traders found good news in the first-quarter earnings reports of American Telephone and Telegraph and some other prominent companies. AT and T reported first-quarter earnings of 47c a share, up from 31c in the corresponding quarter of last year.

On Thursday, the market gained more ground. The Dow Jones rose 7.06 points to close at 1855.03, bringing its gain over four sessions to 64.85 points. Analysts said enthusiasm persisted about the performance of the stock, bond and oil markets as investors concluded that hostilities between the United States and Libya apparently would not lead to any major financial or economic disruptions. Stock prices rose sharply as both oil prices and interest rates tumbled.

The markets encountered something of an obstacle in the Government’s report that GNP expanded at an annual rate of 3.2 per cent, after adjustment for inflation and seasonal factors, in the first quarter. That growth, which exceeded most advance estimates on Wall Street, raised doubts about whether the Federal Reserve Board would cut its discount rate.

Prices of a selection of U.S. stocks on Friday:

Alcan Alu 31%, Alcoa 41%, Am Express 65, Am Motors 4%, Amerad Hes 19%, American Airlines 58%, Armco 9%, Asarco 21%, Atl Richfield 53, ATT 24%, Beth Stl 18%, Boeing 58%, Borden 61%, Burroughs 62%, CBS 138%, Chevron 37%, Chrysler 41%, Citicorp 61%, Clark Eqp 23, Clevel’d Cliff 17%, Coca Cola 113, Colgate 38%, Conti Data 21%, Crane 46%, Dart and Kraft 56%, Digital 182%, Dome Mines 6%, Dow Chem 53%, Du Pont 76%, East Kodak 58%, Englhrd 25%, Exxon 57%, Firestone ,?5%, Fluor 17%, Ford 83%, Frpt Mcmor 17%, General Dyn 87%, General Electric 77%, GM 81%, Gencorp, 74%, Goodyear 32%, Greyhound 37%, Grumman 28%, Gulf Res 12%, HJ Heinz 42, Hallburton 22, Heinze 42, Homestake 23%, Honeywell 76, IBM 152%, INCO 15%, ITT 46%, Johnson Johnson 65%, K Mart 48, Kaiser Alu 22%, Lockheed 57%, MMM 103%, Manville 7%, Medon/Doug 90%, Mcdonald’s 102%, Merryl Lynch 40%, Mobil 28%, Monsanto 63%, NCR 46%, Newm Min 46%, Occidental 26, Pfizer 63%, PheL Dodge 28, Philips Pe 10%, Polaroid 62%, Raytheon 64%, RCA 64%, Reyn Metal 47%, Roy 1 D Pet 77, Sohio 45, Schlumberger 30%, Seagrams ,59%, Sears Roe 48, Shell Tr 46%, Sperry Cp 53%, Texaco 31%, Texas Inst 135%, UNCAL Cp 22%, Union Carb 24%, US Steel 19%, Walt Dis 46%, Westg Ele 56%, Woolworth 80%, Xerox 60%.