Stocks Manage Weak Rebound; Dow Gains 2.15 : Investor Jitters Keep Trading Pace Slow

NEW YORK â€”  The stock market struggled to a small gain Thursday in a sluggish bid to rebound from Wednesday’s broad decline.

Trading was quiet.

The Dow Jones index of 30 industrials, down 37.80 on Wednesday, recovered 2.15 points to 1,968.00.

Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 5 to 4 in nationwide New York Stock Exchange-listed trading, with 796 up, 637 down and 528 unchanged.

Big Board volume came to 143.88 million shares, down from 176.72 million in the previous session. Nationwide, volume in NYSE-listed issues totaled 164.82 million shares.

A big chunk of the day’s trading took place in a single stock--Avon Products, down 1/8 at 24 on turnover of more than 29.8 million shares.

Analysts said the activity stemmed from short-term strategies based on the company’s impending quarterly dividend. At recent levels Avon shares sport an annual yield of 8.3%.

Otherwise, analysts said investors were doing a little tentative buying in stocks depressed by Wednesday’s selloff, which came amid increasing worries about rising interest rates.

Rates were mixed in the credit markets Thursday as the Treasury completed a three-day auction of $26 billion in bonds and notes.

Brokers said traders remained concerned that persistent strength in the economy would lead to upward pressure on interest rates and inflation.

Smaller Rise Expected

The Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell 0.6% in April, but it also revised the figure for March to a 1.7% gain from a previously estimated rise of 0.8%.

The government’s monthly report on the producer price index is due out today. Advance estimates on Wall Street call for an increase of about 0.4% in the index for April, after a 0.6% rise the month before.

Among actively traded blue chips, Ford Motor rose 1/2 to 47, General Electric gained to 39, Exxon advanced 3/8 to 44 and American Telephone & Telegraph added 1/2 to 27 3/8. But International Business Machines was unchanged at 108 3/4.

Dow Chemical picked up 3/8 to 81. The company said it expects its earnings this year to top the record set in 1987.

Norton Co. gained 1 5/8 to 52 5/8. The issue was added to Standard & Poor’s 500-stock composite index, prompting buying by index funds set up to track the performance of the 500.

The Wilshire index of 5,000 equities closed at 2,537.636, up 5.644.

The NYSE’s composite index of all its listed common stocks gained 0.30 to 143.78.

Standard & Poor’s industrial index rose 0.39 to 294.17, and S&P;’s 500-stock composite index was up 0.54 at 253.85.

The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market added 0.99 to 370.23. At the American Stock Exchange, the market-value index closed at 296.61, up 0.98.

At the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index of 225 selected issues, which lost 251.20 points Wednesday, gained back 51.53 points, closing the day at 27,212.58.

The Nikkei index, the main market barometer, lost as much as 194.95 points in the first 15 minutes of trading, dropping below the 27,000-level for the first time since April 22. The fall, prompted by the overnight plunge on Wall Street caused by prime rate hikes and concern over inflation, turned investors to hunt for bargains, traders said.

In London, the Financial Times 100-share index gained 15.5 to close at 1,772.3.