Stocks End Mostly Up; Oil, Gold Prices Slide

Wall Street decided to go into the Thanksgiving holiday in a better mood, as stocks closed mostly higher Wednesday despite fresh worries about Japan.

Meanwhile, oil prices tumbled, as did those for gold, with the latter closing below $300 an ounce for the first time in nearly 13 years.

In the stock market, the Dow industrials slipped 14.17 points to 7,794.78, but that masked a solid rise in the broad market.

Winners topped losers 17 to 12 on the New York Stock Exchange and 21 to 20 on Nasdaq. Most major market indexes were up modestly.

Overall, the day was “kind of a nonevent. I don’t expect too much action on Friday, either,” with many investors on holiday, said Bill Meehan, chief market analyst for Cantor Fitzgerald.

U.S. financial markets will be closed today. The bond market will be closed Friday, and the stock market will close early, at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

Gains in many Asian markets on Wednesday set a better tone for Wall Street. European stocks also closed higher, as did Latin American markets.

In Tokyo, the battered Nikkei-225 index rose 1.1%, while Hong Kong’s main index was up 2.6%. The deeply depressed Seoul market continued to slide, however, with the main index off 0.2%.

In Europe, Frankfurt’s DAX index gained 1.8%. In Latin America, the Mexico City market was up 2.4%.

Still, analysts noted growing concern in Japan and in the rest of the world over the health of that country’s banking system, as major Japanese banks are forced to pay an ever higher “premium” to borrow from other world banks.

The dollar, however, wasn’t a beneficiary of that concern on Wednesday, as it dipped against the yen after hitting a five-year high Tuesday.

In a shortened session, the dollar traded at 126.97 yen in New York, down from 127.07 on Tuesday.

The dollar rose against the German mark, though, closing at 1.763 marks, its highest level in four weeks, up from 1.749 on Tuesday.

The U.S. bond market was fairly calm. The yield on the bellwether 30-year Treasury bond edged down to 6.04% from 6.05% on Tuesday.

Some traders said U.S. stocks drew strength Wednesday from a series of reports that generally reinforced hopes that economic growth will remain moderate enough to keep inflation in check.

The Commerce Department’s revised calculation of real third-quarter economic growth came to 3.3% on an annualized basis, matching the robust pace of the second quarter.

“When you added all the numbers up, it showed you an economy moving along at a modest pace,” said Larry Wachtel, market analyst at Prudential Securities.

Falling commodity prices also may have helped stocks. Crude oil fell nearly 3% to a four-month low amid speculation the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will raise production quotas, and as the United Nations considers allowing Iraq to export more oil.

“OPEC’s talking about an oil output boost, and with the possibility of more Iraqi oil, there’s going to be a lot more supply in the market, “ said Joe Quenet, an oil broker at Arb Oil Inc. January crude oil futures sank 58 cents to $19.15 a barrel.

Elsewhere, December gold futures fell $3.60 to $296.90 an ounce, the first close below $300 since March 1985 amid growing expectations of further gold sales by European central banks.

Bank of England Gov. Eddie George said this week that he would be surprised if the planned European central bank holds “large quantities” of gold in its reserves.

The comments heightened concern that European central banks may sell much of their gold.

Among Wednesday’s highlights:

* Defense stocks got a lift after brokerage Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter raised Lockheed Martin to a “strong buy.” Lockheed jumped $2.88 to $95.94, Northrop Grumman gained $3.81 to $111.13, Raytheon rose $1.94 to $55 and General Dynamics was up $1.25 at $85.69.

* Telephone stocks continued to attract buyers looking for “safer” stocks in a dicey market. SBC Communications surged $3.69 to $73, GTE rose $1.75 to $49.88 and BellAtlantic added $1.63 to $88.31.

* Some bank stocks revived, with Wells Fargo up $5.50 to $307 and BankBoston up $1.81 to $88.75. But BankAmerica fell $2.44 to $72.88.

* Gold’s slump slammed gold mining stocks such as ASA, down $1 to $21.81; Newmont Gold, down 75 cents to $30.38; and Placer Dome, down 25 cents to $12.31.

* Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea plunged $5.81 to $30 after the grocery chain warned that fiscal third-quarter profit will drop because of increased spending on Thanksgiving promotions.

* Among Southland issues, Helisys fell 6 cents to 75 cents after the automated-systems firm said it expects to report a net loss in the range of $800,000 to $1 million, or 20 cents to 25 cents a share, for the quarter ended Oct. 31. The company also said that Nasdaq delayed plans to delist its stock pending a hearing Dec. 18.