honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 11:51 a.m., Monday, April 14, 2003

Lower prices propel Dow in light trading

Hawai'i Stocks
Updated Market Chart

By Amy Baldwin
Associated Press

NEW YORK — Investors attracted by lower prices but still wary of first-quarter earnings sent stocks soaring today, a break from last week's declines. The Dow Jones industrials climbed more than 140 points but volume was light, a sign that many investors want to see more profit reports before making any major moves.

"I think guys are going to stay flexible until they see some conviction. There is a reluctance by large institutions to really commit to the market. This isn't a momentum driven market," said Michael Murphy, head trader at Wachovia Securities.

Although stocks were quite a temptation, Wall Street was still concerned after hearing companies say first-quarter and yearly results will be soft. The market is again focused primarily on earnings and economic news, paying less attention to the war in Iraq now that allied success seems assured.

Amid extremely light trading, the Dow closed up 147.69, or 1.8 percent, at 8,351.10, according to preliminary calculations. The blue chips more than erased last week's loss of 0.9 percent.

The broader market also finished sharply higher. The Nasdaq composite index rose 26.10, or 1.9 percent, to 1,384.95. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 16.93, or 2 percent, to 885.23.

The gains put the Dow and the S&P 500 back into positive territory for the year. The Nasdaq has been in positive ground more the past month.

Despite today's advance, analysts don't expect many big upswings on Wall Street for quite a while.

But they predict the market will hold up rather well in the coming weeks as companies report their results; analysts say the numbers will look far better than those of last year's first quarter.

"The markets have some reasonably good comparisons to work off of and expectations are fairly low. And, that that being the case, we might get through this earnings season without too much psychological damage or market damage," said A.C. Moore, chief investment strategist for Dunvegan Associates in Santa Barbara, Calif.