Stocks Pull Back After Rise in Interest Rates
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NEW YORK — The stock market closed out its third straight week of strong gains with a modest pullback Friday.
The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials slipped 4.13 to 1,435.09, reducing its gain for the week to 30.73 points.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange reached 130.24 million shares, up from 124.93 million on Thursday.
Analysts said demand for stocks faded a bit after interest rates turned upward in the credit markets Thursday.
The change of direction in open-market interest rates came as the Treasury announced plans to sell $61 billion in new debt securities over the next two weeks, starting with $22 billion in short-term cash management bills Friday.
Auto issues were the day’s standout group. Ford Motor led the active list and rose 2 3/8 to 53 1/2 on top of a 2 1/8-point gain Thursday.
Ford said its directors expanded the company’s program of buying back its stock by authorizing the repurchase of 20 million additional shares.
Among other leading auto issues, General Motors gained 1 1/8 to 70 1/2 and Chrysler was up 1 3/8 at 44 3/8.
Another blue chip that turned in a strong showing was International Business Machines, which rose 1/8 to 136 3/4 and made its first appearance on the new-high list since early this year.
In all, 120 issues touched new highs for at least the past 52 weeks, against 18 new lows.
Utility issues, which are considered highly sensitive to interest-rate fluctuations, ran into some selling. Among the regional telephone stocks, Nynex dropped 1 3/4 to 89 5/8, Pacific Telesis 1 3/8 to 77, Southwestern Bell 1 to 79 3/4 and U.S. West 1 3/4 to 81.
Helene Curtis Industries climbed 1 1/8 to 21 3/4. The company said it expects to show a significant improvement in earnings for the fiscal year that ends Feb. 28, 1986.
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