Nasdaq Ekes Out Record as Dow Limps Along

The Nasdaq stock market set its eighth straight record close Monday as investors again sought shares of small and medium-size companies, while blue chips edged up in the lowest trading volume in more than a month.

Meanwhile, prices of wheat and corn futures tumbled as long-awaited beneficial rains in the Corn Belt raised hopes that harsh weather may not hurt U.S. crops as much as feared this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.42 points to 5,573.41, once again trading in a narrow range amid continuing uncertainties about inflation and interest rates as the economy picks up momentum.

The sluggish blue-chip index has been stumbling higher in recent weeks while technology and smaller-company issues rallied sharply on a series of strong earnings reports and enthusiasm that an improving economy should benefit those sectors most.

That rally slowed some Monday on a pickup in selling to take profits, but the Nasdaq composite index and Russell 2,000 list of smaller companies struggled higher to their eighth straight record closes.

The Nasdaq, which advanced more than 4% last week, rose 1.31 points to 1,188.20. The Russell 2,000 gained 0.39 point to 348.22.

Other broad-market measures were mixed.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume slowed to 342.54 million shares, well below Friday’s pace.

Meanwhile, the market discounted news that sales of new homes dropped sharply in March to the lowest rate in 10 months, which was blamed on the recent surge in mortgage rates.

Traders are keenly awaiting Friday’s April jobs report, mindful of the bloodletting on Wall Street after February and March payroll numbers came in much stronger than expected.

Treasury bond yields rose amid worries that government statistics this week would reinforce recent evidence of inflation pressures in the economy. The yield on the Treasury’s main 30-year bond rose to 6.84% from 6.79% on Friday.

Among the market highlights:

* Boeing finish unchanged at 80 3/4 after reporting its profit fell 34% as aircraft deliveries slowed in the aftermath of last year’s strike by machinists. Boeing’s results came in below many forecasts.

* Oil stocks gained as crude prices continued to rise in futures trading. Texaco rose 1 1/2 to 86 7/8 and Exxon rose 1 1/2 to 85 7/8.

* Paper and forest product stocks drew avid buying interest as investors were hopeful that this week’s economic data would offer further proof of a strengthening economy. Georgia-Pacific rose 2 1/2 to 78 1/4, Weyerhaeuser added 1 7/8 to 49 3/4, Boise Cascade rose 1 1/4 to 46 1/2 and Bowater climbed 1 1/2 to 40 1/4.

* Continuum surged 12 1/4 to 57 5/8 after the company and Computer Sciences agreed to a $1.5-billion stock-swap merger. Computer Sciences fell 2 7/8 to 75 1/4.

* Provident, a disability and life insurance firm, said it will acquire rival Paul Revere from Textron for more than $1.2 billion in cash and stock. Textron lost 1 to 86 1/8 and Provident rose 2 1/2 to 34.

* Canandaigua shed 6 3/4 to 29 3/4 after warning that its income for the six months ended Feb. 29 would be off sharply.

In Mexico City, stocks fell to their lowest levels in two weeks as the peso weakened and interest rates rose. The Bolsa index fell 16.87 points to 3,200.09. London’s FTSE-100 fell 23.6 points to 3,809.2. In Tokyo, Japanese financial markets were closed for Greenery Day, a national holiday, and will reopen today.

May delivery contracts for both wheat and corn at the Chicago Board of Trade dropped through the floor after rains fell from Kansas to Texas over the weekend and drenched the eastern Corn Belt on Monday.

May wheat in Chicago closed 65 cents per bushel lower at $6.515, with subsequent delivery months down the 20-cent daily limit. May corn closed 33 3/4 cents lower at $4.7375, with the July and September deliveries down the daily 12-cent limit.

Market Roundup, D8