Stocks closed narrowly mixed in choppy trading Friday as strength in some blue chips helped the market fight off pressure from further weakness in bonds and the U.S. dollar.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which fell 14.87 points Thursday, bounced back 9.68 points to 3989.61 to snap a two-day losing streak.Big gains in IBM and some of the Dow's economically sensitive components helped lift the blue-chip indicator out of negative territory. IBM jumped 25/8 to 797/8, while Goodyear Tire & Rubber climbed 13/8 to 371/8 and Aluminum Co. of America rose 7/8 to 391/4.
Even the interest rate-sensitive Dow utilities average edged up 0.07 point to 190.09 to end a two-day slide.
The New York Stock Exchange composite index slid 0.07 to 263.29, while Standard & Poor's 500-stock index inched up 0.29 to 485.42. The average price of a share lost a penny.
Declines topped advances 1,229-858 among the 2,867 issues crossing the NYSE tape.
Adjusted volume edged up to 330,832,000 shares from 329,421,000 in the same period Thursday.
Prices ended narrowly mixed on the American Stock Exchange, while the Nasdaq Stock Market closed moderately higher on the back of rallying technology issues.
Treasury securities ended above lows, while the U.S. dollar finished sharply lower.
The dollar changed hands at 1.4245 German marks and 94.05 Japanese yen, down from 1.4415 marks and 95.27 yen late Thursday.
The Treasury Department said the Federal Reserve coordinated with other central banks to buy dollars in an attempt to shore up the ailing currency.
But despite the concerted intervention, the dollar continued its meltdown against the yen, plunging on global markets through the 95-yen barrier for the first time since the end of World War II.
The bellwether 30-year Treasury bond, which fell 12/32 Thursday to yield 7.48 percent, slipped 20/32 to 101. The issue's yield, which moves in the opposite direction of its price, was 7.54 percent.
In overseas trading, the Tokyo stock market closed higher as a rally in large-capitalization issues buoyed the market.
But London slipped further along with Frankfurt and Paris on concerns about the dollar's weakness on global currency markets.
On Wall Street, Alan Ackerman, executive vice president at Reich & Co., said the market showed "remarkable resilience" in the face of bonds' weakness and the dollar's plunge to historic lows.
He pointed out that "some strong upside performance" by IBM, Philip Morris and several other blue chips "gave the market a good lift."
The dollar's weakness "was a heavy negative influence on both the stock and bond markets most of the day," he said.
But Ackerman said stocks and bonds climbed off lows after Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin's statement later in the day that the Clinton administration wanted to see a stronger dollar - in conjunction with repeated central bank intervention - "helped improve the dollar and the dollar psychology."
The analyst added that such development led "to speculation that the stock market is ready for a renewed run through the 4000 level on the Dow after some poor performance late this week."
William Raftery, technical analyst at Smith Barney Inc., said he welcomed the stock market's two-day retreat, calling it "a healthy pullback" after last week's record-setting rally.
Analysts said Wall Street opened moderately lower as the dollar's weakness continued to pressure stocks and bonds.
Stocks retreated further Thursday in tandem with bonds as the dollar sank to a new postwar low against the yen, although both stocks and bonds closed above session lows after Federal Reserve intervention helped the dollar crawl out of the depths.
The analysts said Friday morning's on-target economic news had little effect on trading as investors focused on the dollar's direction.
Shortly before the market opened, the Commerce Department reported that the government's chief economic forecasting gauge was unchanged in January, matching economists' expectations.
Commerce said the index of leading indicators in December was upwardly revised to a 0.2 percent increase from the previously estimated 0.1 percent rise.
On the NYSE trading floor, Maxus Energy paced the Big Board actives, losing 3/16 to 51/4.