Stocks Mixed as Dow Slips; Oil Rebounds : Market Overview

Stocks finished mixed Thursday, as a rally in tech issues failed to inspire the broad market. With the bond market closed for Veterans Day, traders said some investors stayed on the sidelines.

* Oil prices jumped on reports that Saudi Arabia may urge fellow-members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut production. Grain prices were mixed, after surging Wednesday.

Stocks

Strength concentrated in a few big-name companies was offset by weakness in other blue-chips, and the Dow industrials ended off 1.12 points to 3,662.43.

In the broad market, losers topped winners 11 to 9 on the New York Stock Exchange, on volume of 287 million shares.

On the Nasdaq market of mostly smaller stocks, however, gains in technology issues helped push the Nasdaq composite index up 2.48 points to 778.98.

“It was a very selective, very discriminating session,” said Alfred E. Goldman, analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St Louis. “I think the market remains in an overall consolidation.”

Some analysts were disappointed that the Dow’s 23-point rally on Wednesday, on new optimism about the North American Free Trade Agreement, failed to carry into Thursday.

In Mexico City, meanwhile, the Bolsa index hit a new high, up 21.02 points to 2,056.35.

Among U.S. market highlights:

* AT&T; helped pace the technology rally, rising 1 3/8 to 56 3/4 on word that it will help Pacific Telesis launch an information superhighway in California. PacTel fell 1 3/8 to 55 1/4 after leaped 3 1/8 on Wednesday.

Among other tech issues, Apple added 5/8 to 31 3/8, Sun Microsystems gained 1 3/8 to 26 3/8, Cabletron Systems surged 3 1/4 to 99 5/8, Retix soared 2 1/8 to 10 3/8 and General Instrument was up 1 1/2 to 59.

Many of the stocks appeared to benefit from excitement over the potential for high-tech equipment deals with AT&T; and other giants that are expanding the information highway.

Elsewhere, IBM soared 2 1/8 to 52 after disclosing that it might sell a $2-billion division that develops special computer products for the federal government.

* Tobacco stocks had another strong day. Philip Morris jumped 1 3/8 to 56 3/4 after analysts at Goldman Sachs & Co. and Salomon Bros. raised their investment ratings on the stock, citing planned cigarette price increases.

* On the downside, profit-taking clipped Goodyear, off 1 to 42 1/2; Sears, down 1 1/8 to 56 1/2; and Chevron, which fell 1 3/8 to 90 1/8.

* Mutual-fund firm Dreyfus rocketed 1 3/4 to 42 5/8 after it confirmed that previously undisclosed discussions about a possible business alliance had been terminated. Early in the session, Dreyfus stock surged before being halted as takeover rumors swirled.

* Among retailers, Gap leaped 3 1/8 to 39 1/2 on better than expected quarterly earnings news. Also gaining was Limited, up 1 3/8 to 22 1/4.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei-225 index halted its decline, adding 36.81 points to 18,158.52.

In Frankfurt, the DAX index eased 0.51 point to 2,023.33, and London’s FTSE-100 index added 1.2 points to 3,099.7.

Other Markets

Oil prices jumped on talk that the Saudis, the world’s largest oil exporters, will lean on OPEC to slash production in the face of a growing global oil glut.

December crude futures surged 35 cents to $16.90 a barrel after initially falling to a key support at $16.36, a 3 1/2-year low. The market posted a wide, 71-cent range.

“Talk of a possible OPEC cut spurred aggressive short covering (buying back of previously sold contracts) after crude bounced off a very important level,” said Gerald Samuels, managing director of ARB Oil in Los Angeles.

Prices sprang back after a Gulf source familiar with Saudi thinking said OPEC would consider an output cut when the group meets Nov. 23 in Vienna.

But traders warned that current petroleum supply and demand fundamentals had not changed and the market previously staged abortive rebounds during its six-month downward spiral.

Elsewhere, grain prices turned mixed after Wednesday’s big rallies, on news of lower-than-expected U.S. corn and soybean harvests. Corn rose further, but soybeans slipped.

Gold also lost ground, with near-term futures falling $1 to $375.80 an ounce on the Comex. Silver was off 1.9 cents to $4.55.

Market Roundup, D8