Rates Perk Stock Market’s Interest

Stocks sprinted to new highs Monday, buoyed by rising hopes that interest rates will retreat and energize the lethargic economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average soared 42.89 past the peak reached Friday to 4,553.68, marking the fourth straight closing record for the blue-chip indicator.

Several other popular stock gauges established highs, also beating their prior bests of Friday.

Gainers beat losers by better than a 13-to-9 margin on the NYSE where volume came to 322.62 million shares as of 4 p.m. Eastern time. In Friday’s unusually busy session, 442.74 million shares changed hands on the NYSE floor.

The broadly based rally extended beyond the Big Board thanks to the leadership of technology stocks, many of which are listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

In Europe, shares closed near the highs of the session in London and advanced in Frankfurt. Modest gains were posted in Paris.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily:

NYSE

First Fidelity, up 10 1/4 to 59.

First Union, down 1 3/4 to 45 7/8.

First Union has agreed to buy First Fidelity for $5.4 billion in stock in what would be the largest bank merger ever.

Sunbeam, down 5 to 13 3/8.

Investors dumped the stock after the company indicated that its second-quarter and annual earnings could fall short of its expectations. Brokerage analysts downgraded the stock’s investment rating.

Texas Instruments, up 6 3/8 to 138 3/8.

Technology issues, particularly semiconductor stocks, were among the beneficiaries of renewed hope for lower interest rates. Also active on the NYSE, Motorola rose 3 7/8 to 64 1/2, Micron Technology rose 3 to 53, Advanced Micro Devices rose 2 1/4 to 37 and Hewlett Packard rose 1 to 76 1/4.

NASDAQ

Microsoft, up 2 7/8 to 89 7/8.

The software maker scored a victory as an antitrust settlement with the government was reinstated Friday by an appeals court.

Lannet Data, up 4 1/8 to 23 1/2.

The maker of local area networks and data communications products said it has agreed to be acquired by Madge NV of the Netherlands in a stock swap worth about $300 million that values each share of the Israeli company at $27.50.

AMEX

Andrea Electronics up 3 to 24 7/8.

The audio systems designer said it granted International Business Machines exclusive worldwide rights to market, sell, distribute and support Andrea Anti-Noise Active Noise Cancellation products. The company also said it agreed with privately held David Clark to jointly develop Active Noise Reduction headsets for David Clark’s noise-attenuating headsets.