Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.ibd From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Inside The Market Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 12:43:39 EST Message-ID: <7.1992Nov10.124340@AmeriCast.com> 11/10/92 TITLE Inside The Market Dow Finishes Flat After Being Ahead 20; Dillard Leads Department-Store Gainers Lisa Lee Freeman The stock market closed with only a slight gain yesterday after a late sell- off that accelerated toward the close nearly swept the averages into the red. The Dow Jones industrial average was ahead as much as 20 points intraday but quickly lost momentum and ended at 3240.87, up 0.81 point, or 0.02%. Advances edged de- clines 8-to-7, while volume remained brisk at 197 million shares, down 4% from Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index climbed 0.24%, but the Nasdaq composite index spurted 0.85% as secondary issues continued to outperform. "There's a firm tone to the market," said Robert Robbins, a market strategist at Robinson- Humphrey Co. "It's been able to withstand a lot of con- cerns," including worries that President-elect Bill Clinton will raise taxes on businesses and higher-income investors. Besides, he said, "We're approaching the year-end rally season, which tends to start up around Thanksgiving. It's usually the best sea- sonal rally of the year," added Robbins. Year- end rallies, he explained, average a 10% gain from a November or December low to a high in January. Although Robbins doesn't believe the rally will be as strong as that because of the age of the bull market, he does see the Dow testing its all-time high of 3413 by the end of January. The best gainer among the blue chips was laggard International Business Machines Corp., which rose 11/4 to 671/2. Walt Disney Co.- , up as much as 11/2, but ended at 407/8, up 3/4. Oppenhei- mer & Co. and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. reitered their buy ratings on Disney. The company's new animated film, Aladdin, has been getting favorable reviews and is expected to be a big hit. Clifford Friedman, an analyst with Bear, Stearns & Co., said some of IBM's strength could be related to news that Storage Technology Inc.'s Iceberg computer disk-array system will be delayed further. As a result, it appears that a similar product under development by IBM likely will be intro- duced at the same time as the Storage Technology system. "The Iceberg system was expected to come out with their disk-array technology in early 1993," said Friedman. "Now it looks like both products will come out late next year or in early 1994." Storage Technology collapsed 81/4 to 231/2 on the news. The company said testing for its problem-plagued Iceberg storage system would ex- tend into the second half of 1993, impacting revenues for the year. Honeywell Inc. rose 17/8 to 641/4 after declaring a 2- for-1 split and hiking its quarterly dividend by 3.25 cents a share to 44.5 cents. Dillard Department Stores- climbed 21/4 to 441/8. It said third-quarter earnings were up 14% to a slightly better-than-expected 40 cents a share. During the quarter, the Arkansas-based company opened 19 new stores. Dillard has been gaining momentum for the past few months. Among other regional chains, Kohl's Corp. was up 17/8 to 313/4 and Fred Meyer Inc. 11/4 to 30. Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., which traded below 36 in January, rose 15/8 to 705/8. That's a new closing high for the supermarket chain, which was the subject last Friday of Investor's Business Daily's "Leaders & Success" feature. Medtronic Inc.- , up 2 points on Friday, added 23/4 to a new closing high of 1017/8. The stock was buffeted earlier this year as investors turned their backs on the health-care sector. But it has recovered in recent months to levels not seen since January. Medtronic makes pacemakers. U.S. Surgical Corp. was off as much as 2 points in early trade but rebounded to close at 623/4, up 13/4 The company allayed investor fears that it would suffer sig- ificant consequences from a renewed supply pact between Johnson & Johnson and Voluntary Hospitals of America Inc. (VHA). The pact is expected to generate $1.2 billion for J&J and its subsidi- aries. J&J, which was up 7/8 Friday on news it planned to an- nounce the billion-dollar contract, added another 1/8 to 491/4. Hambrecht & Quist Inc. analyst Kurt Kruger said despite the J&J supply pact, U.S. Surgical will continue to get business from VHA hospitals. The agreement is strictly a promise by J&J to provide price discounts to VHA. International Flavors & Fragrances ad- vanced 23/8 to 1153/4 - a new closing high. The stock has been riding high on three quarters of accelerating earnings growth. Franklin Resources Inc. also surged to a new closing high, rising 25/8 to 38. The mutual fund manager has been rallying since an- nouncing a merger agreement with Templeton, Galbraith & Hansberger Ltd., completed late last month. Among other high- fliers breaking into new high ground, Office Depot Inc. rose 11/2 to 327/8 and SPS Transaction Services 11/8 to 385/8. SPS, a credit-card transaction services company, came public at $15 a share in February. Diagnostek Inc. plunged 63/4 to 91/8. Medco Containment Services Corp. said it is reconsidering a stock-swap merger with Diagnos- tek. Separately, the company restated its first-quarter earnings at 11 cents a share, down from a previously reported 15 cents. Diagnostek found errors in its inventory and customer refund fig- ures. This article is copyright 1992 Investors Business Daily. 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