Market Pulls Out Of Skid, Edges Up

Stocks stabilized Thursday, leading to cheering on Wall Street, as the market recovered a little of the turf that was lost in Wednesday’s sharp sell-off.

After waffling most of the day, the Dow Jones industrial average ended 12.68 higher at 4,641.55, enough to incite applause and a joyful outburst from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the closing bell.

On Wednesday, the Dow average plummeted 133 points in a jumpy afternoon retreat before recovering a bit and closing down 57. Traders had worried that the previous day’s rout might signal the beginning of the end of a long bull run.

“I think we came back nicely,” said Larry Wachtel, market analyst at Prudential Securities. “The fear was that (Wednesday’s drop) would be a trigger to people running amok on the down side. But our evidence is that the individual investor is hanging tough. People are sophisticated.”

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was heavy at nearly 381 million shares, but still below the 482 million logged on Wednesday, the third-biggest ever on the Big Board and the busiest day ever in terms of trading on all U.S. stock markets.

Advancers led decliners by about 12 to 7 on the Big Board.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially Thursday:

NYSE

General Motors rose 1 to 49-5/8.

The automaker said its secondquarter net income rose 18 percent to $2.39 per share, in the three months ended June 30 compared with $1.92 billion, or $2.23 a from a year earlier.

Compaq rose 3-3/8 to 48-3/8.

The computer maker’s secondquarter net earnings rose to 90 cents per share from 78 cents a year ago and in line with analysts’ expectations. Sales rose 40 percent.

IBM rose 2-7/8 to 104-1/8.

Micron Technology unchanged at 56-3/4.

Motorola rose 3/8 to 73-1/4.

Digital Equipment rose 5/8 to 36-3/4.

Computer-related stocks were mixed after the sector suffered a sharp drop on Wednesday that was tied to disappointing earnings from Intel and a sobering outlook from Microsoft.

NASDAQ

Intel fell 3/8 to 64-7/8.

Microsoft rose 1 to 95-1/2.

Cisco Systems fell 1/8 to 51-7/8.

Computer-related stocks were mixed after the sector suffered a sharp drop on Wednesday.

AMEX

ALC Communications rose 1-1/2 to 49-3/8.

ALC recorded second-quarter earnings of 52 cents per share, up from 39 cents, citing record growth in long-distance calling volume.