Rally In Stocks

NEW YORK -- U.S. government bonds staged their biggest one-day gain in more than three years yesterday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to contain inflation, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose to its highest point in six weeks.Equally important, analysts said the Fed's move was likely to help stabilize market conditions into the summer, thereby ending a period of chaotic volatility that has persisted since early February.Stock and bond traders moved within seconds of the Fed's action to bid up prices, and continued to do so until the markets closed.

NEW YORK -- Stocks were mixed yesterday as shares of blue-chip companies stumbled while over-the-counter stocks of small companies continued to rally.The Dow Jones industrial average slid 3.78, to 3,240.06. The Dow was still up 13.78 for the week. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.77, to 417.57.Advancing stocks exceeded declining issues by a small margin on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading was active, with about 206 million shares changing hands on the Big Board.The NASDAQ Combined Composite index rose 2.74, to 616.82.

NEW YORK -- Stocks, led by drug company issues, increased yesterday as investors concluded that the Clinton administration would not bring immediate health care reforms that would curb drug prices.The notion that President-elect Bill Clinton will not immediately be able to adopt a health care policy breathed life into the battered drug group. The rise in stocks also reflects the perception that companies with steady earnings growth will perform best in a sluggish economy.The Dow Jones industrial average, led by Merck and Procter & Gamble, gained 14.86, to 3,240.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks closed at record highs for a third straight session amid more signs the economy is gaining momentum.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.56, to an all-time high of 3,794.33, led by a gain in Sears, Roebuck & Co., which added $1.875, to $53.625.Shares of smaller stocks rallied for a fifth session, as the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 3.91, to 768.48, closing at its highest level since mid-November.Stocks received a boost from the Commerce Department's report that its index of leading economic indicators, a key gauge of future economic growth, was up 0.5 percent in November.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks fell yesterday in light trading for a third time in four days, amid concern that interest rates will be forced higher by a growing economy.The Nasdaq composite index bucked the trend, boosted by a rally in computer stocks after Intel Corp. said it expects consumer demand to soar as PCs get cheaper. The Nasdaq rose to 1,243.43.The Dow Jones industrial average slid 50.23 to 5,643.18. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 2.58 to 669.12 as losses in interest-rate-sensitive utility, financial and telephone shares overshadowed soaring chip, computer and software stocks.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks yesterday were mixed at the close of the best month for the Standard & Poor's 500 index since December 1991. Investors expect today's report on July employment to spark further gains.Dell Computer Corp. led a rally in computer stocks, offsetting a decline in Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and other stocks that don't perform well when the economy is slowing.The Dow Jones industrial average lagged behind the broad market, falling 32.28 to 8,222.61, after touching an all-time high of 8,282.

WATCHING the Twilight Zone marathon on cable TV last week, I couldn't help thinking about the price of gold. If there's one number investors should watch as the New Year begins, it's gold's price. Like matter and antimatter, gold is the anti-stock, especially vs. the U.S. stock market. Buying stocks reflects willingness to take risks. For many investors, gold is a way to protect against risks. Hardly anyone mentioned gold in the booming stock market of the 1990s. It was a loony investment theme defended only by people called gold bugs.

NEW YORK -- Computer-related companies led gains in stocks yesterday as the NASDAQ index of smaller stocks closed at another all-time high.The Dow Jones industrial average rose 4.32, to 3,267.88. Computer-driven buy orders pushed the Dow higher in the final minutes."It's a couple of stocks, namely J.P. Morgan and Merck, that held back the Dow," said Edward Collins, executive vice president of institutional trading at Daiwa Securities America. "Meanwhile, the broader averages are soaring."The NASDAQ index rose 8.92, to 695.70, led by gains in Intel and Tele-Communications.

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks fell yesterday for the first time in five days as a decline in bank shares offset a rally in chemical issues.The Dow Jones industrial average, which fell 7.12, to 3,748.31, traded within 13.92 points of Monday's close, the narrowest range this year.Investors were reluctant to make any big bets before today, traders said, when Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan gives Congress the Fed's assessment of the U.S. economy in his twice-yearly Humphrey-Hawkins testimony."It's basically a wait-and-see market right now," said Jack Bayer, managing director of Nasdaq trading at Oppenheimer & Co.Within the Dow industrials, de clines in shares of Eastman Kodak Co. and International Business Ma chines Corp.

In a move that surprised economists and ignited a major rally in stocks, Federal Reserve policy-makers cut a benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point yesterday, the fourth time this year that the newly aggressive central bank has slashed borrowing costs so steeply. The policy-making Federal Open Market Committee, headed by Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, noted eroding profits and a worsening outlook for corporate capital spending as two of the reasons for the rate cut. "The significance here is that he's going to do whatever needs to be done to keep the economy from falling apart," said David M. Citron, managing director of the Pikesville office of Carret and Co., a Manhattan-based money-management business.