Dow Recoups Loss, Edges Higher

Stocks finished mostly higher Thursday in quiet trading after spending most of the day in negative territory with bonds.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 3.97 points to finish at 5,630.85. The well-known barometer of big U.S. companies was off most of the day, sinking as much as 35 points shortly after midday, before rebounding in the last hour.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 6 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled 368.29 million shares as of 4 p.m., well below Wednesday’s pace.

Bonds slid for the second straight day, with the 30-year Treasury bond losing about half a point more after dragging stocks lower Wednesday with a drop of more than one point. The yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to about 6.72 percent.

“As long as bonds stay sloppy like this, it won’t provide any lift for the stock market like it did in the early part of this year,” said Dick McCabe, chief market analyst at Merrill Lynch.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday:

NYSE

Stop & Shop, up 6-3/8 to 33-1/8.

Dutch grocery retailer Royal Ahold said it will buy the New England supermarket chain in a transaction worth $2.9 billion. Royal Ahold will pay $33.50 a share in cash for Stop & Shop stock and assume $1.1 billion of Stop & Shop’s debt.

Boeing, down 1/4 to 88-3/8.

The Seattle-based aircraft maker said it will sell its Macon, Ga., unit, which makes cargo handling hardware. Boeing said it had a potential buyer but did not disclose details of the proposed sale.

Kmart, up 1/2 to 9-1/2.

The Teamsters and the Union of Needletrades Industrial and Textile Employees are asking to appoint a representative to the troubled retailer’s board to help push for a merger, sale or other transaction to increase the company’s stock price.

NASDAQ

Imatron, down 3/16 to 3.

Company studies found its Ultrafast CT scanning “highly effective” in predicting heart attacks in patients with no previous symptoms of heart trouble and heart blockages caused by plaque. The company also said its CT can help eliminate unnecessary hospitalization of heart patients.

AMEX

Phoenix Resource, up 4-1/8 at 24.

The oil and gas explorer agreed to a $396 million cash and stock buyout offer from Apache Corp. Apache will give three-quarters of an Apache share plus $4 in cash for each Phoenix share.