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Blue chips wake up
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November 13, 1998: 1:41 p.m. ET
Dow advances in afternoon trade as investors eye Iraq, wait for the Fed
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. investors chose to take blue-chip stocks for a small rally Friday while keeping an eye on the situation in the Middle East and eagerly awaiting the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision Tuesday.
Shortly before 1:30 p.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average was 62.30 points higher at 8,892.04. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers outnumbered gainers 1,430 to 1,388 as 378 million shares changed hands.
The Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.45 to 1,851.51 and the S&P 500 index gained 5.74 to 1,123.91. (Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers)
The market got a midday boost when the International Monetary Fund announced a much-awaited $41 billion aid package for Brazil, South America's largest economy.
The bond market sagged following the release of stronger-than-expected retail sales and producer price index data, which seemed to point to a smaller likelihood that the Federal Reserve will ease interest rates Tuesday. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond fell 2/32 of a point in price for a yield of 5.25 percent.
The dollar, however, gained ground against both the Japanese yen and the German mark as tensions grew between the United States and Iraq and signs mounted that the U.S. economy is robust.
Disappointment
In the stock market, investors punished Dell Computer (DELL) for failing to meet their secret expectations with its latest earnings. Although Dell reported record profits late Thursday and beat official forecasts by a penny per share, its earnings failed to meet Wall Street's "whisper estimate" of 30 cents a share. Dell's shares tumbled 4-1/8 to 65-1/16.
Several brokerages, including Piper Jaffay and BancBoston Robertson Stephens downgraded the stock, while others like Goldman Sachs kept their ratings of Dell.
Weakness in the computer-maker's stock affected other technology issues, with Dow component IBM (IBM) falling 1-13/16 to 156-1/16. But Intel (INTC) rose 1-1/4 to 103-15/16 and Microsoft (MSFT) gained 11/16 to 109-7/16.
And financial shares woke up from a three-day slump, with Citigroup (CCI) rising 1-1/8 to 43-1/16, American Express (AXP) advancing 1-13/16 to 94-3/16 and J.P. Morgan (JPM) gaining 3-5/16 to 101-15/16.
Among non-Dow financials, BankAmerica (BAC) rose 2-5/16 to 58-1/16, Chase Manhattan (CMB) advanced 1-7/16 to 56-9/16 and Bankers Trust (BT) rallied 2-7/8 to 64-3/4. 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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