Uninspired Dow Slips Another 8.11 : Market Overview

* Responding unenthusiastically to upbeat economic news, the stock market pulled back for a second straight day.

* In the credit markets, Treasury bond yields rose on reports of an increase in retail sales.

Stocks

Trading was markedly slow, in part because stormy weather in the New York area prompted some traders to stay home or leave work early.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped another 8.11 points to 3,304.08. The average finished the week with a net gain of 15.40 points.

In the broader market, losers slightly outnumbered gainers in the daily tally on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume on the Big Board came to 165.71 million shares, down sharply from the 240.64 million traded on Thursday.

The market turned downward Thursday, reacting contrarily to upbeat news on the state of the job market and inflation, and remained in the same spirit Friday.

Separately, the Commerce Department reported a 0.4% increase in retail sales last month, on top of an upward-revised 1.9% gain in October.

The Labor Department reported Friday morning that the consumer price index rose 0.2% in November, bringing its increase so far in 1992 to 3.1%.

But brokers said investors appeared intent on cashing in some gains from the recent rally in stock prices that carried most of the broad indexes to record highs as recently as Tuesday.

Among the market highlights:

* Biogen, traded in the NASDAQ market, climbed 3 5/8 to 46 7/8. The company estimated 1992 earnings surpassing analysts’ expectations and its own previous projections.

* Maybelline, among the NYSE volume leaders, traded at 26 3/4 after an initial public offering of 4.65 million shares at 23 1/2.

* Among the newcomers in the NASDAQ market in a busy day for hot new issues were Haggar Corp., at 19 1/8 after going public at 16 1/2, and President Riverboat, at 24 1/2 after an offering at 18 1/2.

* QVC Network gained 4 to 34 in NASDAQ trading. Home Shopping Network, the volume leader on the Big Board, rose 1 1/4 to 8 3/4.

A group of investors that has taken positions in both QVC and Home Shopping Network apparently has ambitious plans in interactive television through a possible combination of the two competing ventures.

* Novell, the NASDAQ volume leader, dropped 3 1/4 to 27 1/2 in the wake of the company’s report Thursday afternoon of a slightly smaller than expected quarterly earnings gain.

* On the NYSE, Hexcel fell 2 3/8 to 10. The company announced a major restructuring program and said it expects a fourth-quarter loss of perhaps $5.3 million.

* Losers among the blue chips included Philip Morris, down 1 to 79; Sears Roebuck, down 1 1/2 to 43; McDonald’s, off 1/4 to 48 7/8; Procter & Gamble, down 3/4 to 52 3/8, and Exxon, off 3/8 to 60 7/8.

Exxon said it would take a small charge as it adopts new accounting standards for income taxes and post-retirement benefits.

Overseas, Frankfurt’s 30-share DAX index closed down 18.47 points to 1,476.01, off 46.15 points on the week. Share prices fell in London, with the Financial Times 100-share average losing 10.3 points to finish the week at 2,715.2. Tokyo stocks surrendered early gains to close lower, with the 225-share Nikkei average down 60.28 points to 17,441.02.

Credit

Investors reacted to the Commerce Department’s retail sales report. Signs of economic strength usually cause bond prices to fall because they raise the specter of inflation, which erodes the value of long-term investments.

The 30-year bond’s yield was 7.43%, up from 7.42% late Thursday and its price, which moves inversely to the yield, was down 1/8 point, or $1.25 per $1,000 in face amount.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, was 2.813%, down from 3.125% late Thursday.

Currency

The dollar closed mixed in foreign exchange trading, as the upbeat economic news failed to inspire the currency market in trading that was slowed to a crawl by a severe East Coast storm.

In New York, the dollar closed at 123.90 Japanese yen, up from 123.70 late Thursday. The dollar fell to 1.579 German marks from 1.580 marks on Thursday.

The British pound rose to $1.5570, from $1.554 Thursday.

Commodities

Oil prices fell Friday after a rise in light, sweet crude prices failed to trigger more buying. Crude oil for delivery in January settled at $19.09 a barrel, down 19 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude reached as high as $19.47, but did not break through the $19.50 point that many have set as a buy signal.

Crude rose was up 15 cents a barrel on the week.

Meanwhile, on the New York Commodity Exchange, gold settled at $335.20 an ounce, up $1.10 from Thursday.