Posted at 12:14 p.m., Friday, November 9, 2001
Modest advance sends Dow above pre-Sept. 11 level
• Hawai''i Stocks
• Updated Market Chart
• Stock Quotes
By Lisa Singhania
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Wall Street held on to its gains today, rising modestly even as investors pondered what direction to take after the surge in stock prices this week. The Dow Jones industrials had their first close above their levels of Sept. 11.
"It's encouraging to see stocks acting this way. It's very quiet here, but this isn't anything to worry about," said Christopher Wolfe, equity market strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
The Dow closed up 20.48, or 0.2 percent, at 9,608.00, according to preliminary calculations — just above its close of 9,605.51 on Sept. 10, the day before the terror attacks. The index has now recouped all of the 1,369 points it lost in the ensuing selloff.
Broader stock indicators advanced marginally. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.77, or nearly 0.2 percent, at 1,120.31, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 0.72, or 0.04 percent, to 1,828.49. Both indexes surpassed pre-attack levels last month.
"This is a market that's recognizing that it's come a long way in a relatively short period of time," said Charles G. Crane, strategist for Victory SBSF Capital Management.
Noting that seven weeks ago the market hit its lows following the terrorist attacks, Crane said, "If you look at the major benchmarks, the Nasdaq's up about 28 percent, the S&P is up nearly 16 percent. Those are impressive numbers."
Boeing lost $1.72 to $33.18 on news that Scandinavian airline SAS had grounded 43 Boeing planes because of mechanical concerns.
Hewlett-Packard maintained its advance from earlier this week on news suggesting its plans to acquire Compaq were in jeopardy. HP rose 64 cents to $18.99, while Compaq lost 26 cents to $7.73.
Energy stocks rose on reports that OPEC members might agree to curtail supply in efforts to reverse the recent slide in oil prices. ExxonMobil rose 75 cents to $40.25.
The calm session was an uneventful end to a strong week that saw the Dow and S&P rise 3 percent, while the Nasdaq gained 4.7 percent.
Analysts attributed much of the advance to momentum from the rallies Monday and Tuesday, which preceded and followed the Federal Reserve's 10th interest rate cut this year.
The cuts have also helped stabilize a market in which good earnings and economic data remain scarce. Lower interest rates mean money market and other nonequity accounts pay smaller returns — giving investors a greater incentive to put money into the stock market.
"There still is a certain amount of skittishness out there, but we have seen some meager buying come in," said Bryan Piskorowski, market commentator at Prudential Securities.
Still, stocks have been a hard sell in an environment in which most investors have been burned by betting that the market's worst days are behind.
Analysts say that right now, investors are hesitant to buy aggressively because economic data remains weak, particularly employment statistics that show job losses growing.
There is some concern about consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the economy. However, a University of Michigan study released today showed a slight improvement in consumer sentiment.
Advancing and declining issues traded nearly evenly on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume came to 1.08 billion shares compared with 1.49 billion yesterday.
The Russell 2000 index fell 0.95 to 438.11. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average lost 2.1 percent. In Europe, Germany's DAX index dropped 1.7 percent, Britain's FT-SE 100 lost 0.6 percent and France's CAC-40 slipped 1.3 percent.
