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Quarter-end gains for Dow
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September 30, 1999: 5:03 p.m. ET
U.S. stocks climb amid bargain hunting and mostly bullish economic data
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stock markets posted hefty gains Thursday, helped by some quarter-end portfolio buying, outright bargain hunting and mostly market-friendly economic data.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 123.47 points, or 1.2 percent, to 10,336.95. On the New York Stock Exchange, advances charged ahead of declines by 1,899 to 1,176 as more than 1 billion shares changed hands. The Dow's rough ride through the last couple of weeks though, contributed to the blue chip index finishing the third quarter with a loss of 5.78 percent.
The Nasdaq composite rose 15.89 points to 2,746.16, ending the quarter with a gain of 2.24 percent. The S&P 500 index gained 14.34 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,282.71. The broad blue chip stock indicator shed 6.56 percent in the months between July and September.
The market appeared to find solace in news that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy's growth rate, advanced only 1.6 percent in the second quarter, while analysts had expected an increase of 1.8 percent. The second-quarter GDP advance was the slowest since the second quarter of 1995.
The news sent bullish signals to stock and bond market investors, who seemed to conclude that slowing economic growth and no apparent signs of inflation will keep the Federal Reserve on hold when it meets to determine the future of interest rates next week.
But data released later in the morning put a damper on the friendly GDP report, after news reached investors that new home sales rose at a higher-than-expected rate in August.
Some of the stock market's gains were supported by a similar rally in the bond market, where the bellwether 30-year Treasury bond rose 1 a point in price, for a yield of 6.05 percent, down from 6.12 Wednesday.
The dollar fell overnight against the yen for the first time this week after the Bank of Japan, three days after making a pledge to act to curtail its currency's rise, showed no signs of action. But a nuclear accident in Japan halted the yen's climb and limited the dollar's losses. The greenback fell slightly against the euro.
Focus on earnings season
In the stock market, investors focused their attention on the upcoming third-quarter earnings reporting season, dumping shares of office product retailer OfficeMax (OMX) after the company said its latest results will fall short of expectations.
The stock tumbled 1-1/4, or nearly 18 percent, to 5-13/16.
In the day's deal news, copper manufacturer Cyprus Amax (CYM) saw its shares gain 3/8 to 19-5/8 after the company accepted the hostile takeover bid of bigger rival Phelps Dodge (PD). Phelps Dodge is buying Cyprus for $1.8 billion in cash and stock, completing half of its merger attack on Cyprus and fellow copper producer Asarco (AR).
Cyprus and Asarco, which originally were set to merge in a friendly transaction, saw their own deal fall apart earlier this week, allowing each other to consider offers from other companies.
Techs, financials show strength
Much of the Dow and the Nasdaq's strength came amid renewed interest in technology and financial stocks.
Shares of IBM (IBM) gained 15/16 to 121 and Hewlett Packard (HWP) climbed 2-5/8 to 91-7/8.
On the Nasdaq, Cisco Systems (CSCO) rose 1-3/4 to 68-9/16 and Microsoft (MSFT) finished the day up 1-1/16 to 90-9/16.
Among the Dow's financial components, American Express (AXP) climbed 1-7/16 to 135, Citigroup (C) rose 1-5/16 to 44 and J.P. Morgan (JPM) gained 15/16 to 114-1/4.
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers.)
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn technology stocks report.)
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