NEW YORK – Blue-chip stocks rose sharply Friday as buyers emerged from the sidelines in late trading, spurred by short-term trading strategies instead of real conviction and lifting the Dow into the black for the week.
The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average finished up 133.47 points, or 1.36 percent, to 9,968.15, after climbing more than 1.7 percent late in the day. The technology-loaded Nasdaq Composite Index rose 8.30 points, or 0.48 percent, to 1,724.54, after floundering in negative territory much of the session and then rising as much as 1.1 percent. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 8.89 points, or 0.82 percent, to 1,089.84.
For the week, the Dow edged up 0.65 percent, the Nasdaq fell 4.4 percent and the S&P 500 lost 1.3 percent.
Investors trolled for old-line firms like consumer products company Procter & Gamble Co. and manufacturer Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co.
"The market will be very volatile until people get more comfortable with financial reports," said Jon Burnham, who manages the $180 million Burnham Fund.
Buying from short sellers -- investors who sold borrowed stock on hopes of buying it back at a lower price -- also helped pull up Wall Street as they got out of the market ahead of the weekend, traders said.
The market endured a roller-coaster week of sudden rallies and sharp sell-offs as investors struggle to gauge the depth of corporate accounting problems and the speed of a recovery in the nation's troubled economy. The Nasdaq finished down for the fourth straight week as investors refuse to let down their guard.
"You still have some pretty manic-depressive people," said James Volk, co-director of institutional trading at D.A. Davidson and Co. "One day there is good news out of Israel, one day there is bad news. Then there's good news on some accounting, bad news on others. And we are still getting some preannouncements, which don't look so good."
Winners outpaced losers on the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of 19 to 11 and 19 to 15 on Nasdaq. More than 1.4 billion shares traded on the Big Board and more than 1.8 billion on Nasdaq in active trading.
J.P Morgan Chase & Co. was the latest company pounded by worries over dealings with bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp., while electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. sank after its profit warning served as another reminder of shrinking corporate earnings.
"When there's uncertainty, investors shoot first and ask questions later," said Kent Gasaway, who helps manage $2.5 billion for Kornitzer Capital Management.
News of a review by The Federal Reserve Bank of New York sent shares of J.P. Morgan Chase to a three-year low. The stock, the third-most active on the New York Stock Exchange, had dropped more than 6 percent to $26.70, a level unseen since October 1998. The Dow component bounced off its low, but still ended down 95 cents at $28.19.
Financial firms have been in the spotlight as investors try to gauge banks' exposure to Enron. Citigroup Inc., which has labored under these concerns in recent weeks, lost 40 cents to $42.40 and pressured the Dow.
"The worries with the banks are that people don't know what their exposure is, Gasaway said.
Manufacturing stocks "are responding to better economic news because they didn't get quite as expensive as the tech stocks," he added.
Circuit City slumped $7.04 to $16.55 and was the second most-active stock on the New York Stock Exchange. The No. 2 U.S. consumer electronics retailer said sales in January and February are running below its expectations, and remodeling and store relocations will shave earnings in 2002 and 2003.
Computer Associates International Inc.slumped $2.82 to $15.99 and was the NYSE's most-active issue. Salomon Smith Barney cut its rating on the software maker to "neutral" from "buy" after the firm said it was being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"People are dumping any stock if there are any questions about bookkeeping," said Jon Burnham, who manages the $180 million Burnham Fund. "The market will be very volatile until people get more comfortable with financial reports."
Industrial and manufacturing stocks helped buoy the blue-chip Dow. Procter & Gamble climbed $2.50 to $85.60. Minnesota Mining rose $3 to $119. Construction and mining equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. leaped 80 cents to $52.68.
Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicy traded oil company, tacked on a $1.57 gain to $40.72, and boosted the Dow. Oil prices made minor gains and oil stocks rose amid speculation that the United States might attack Iraq and concerns that Russia may stop cooperating with OPEC-led production cuts.
TRW Inc. soared $10.50 to $50.30 after Northrop Grumman , the world's largest builder of warships, said it planned to buy the aerospace and automotive group. Northrop Grumman slumped $7.85 to $109.95.
BEA Systems Inc. dropped 95 cents to $14.86, a day after the software company posted lower fiscal fourth-quarter net profit and said revenues for the current quarter would drop from the previous three months.
Andrx Corp. sank $7.6504 to $34.9596. Credit Suisse First Boston cut its investment rating on the generic drug maker to "hold" from "buy" after the firm posted lower- than-expected quarterly earnings.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners about 9 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was moderate at 1.39 billion shares, ahead of Thursday's 1.35 billion shares.
The Russell 2000 index, which measures the performance of smaller company stocks, rose 6.63, or 1.4 percent, to 465.07. For the week the Russell declined 4.18, or 0.9 percent.
Overseas, markets were mostly lower Friday. In Europe, France's CAC-40 closed down nearly 1.0 percent, Britain's FT-SE 100 declined 0.4 percent, and Germany's DAX index fell 2.0 percent. But Japan's Nikkei stock average finished up 2.2 percent.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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