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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, September 17, 2005

Stocks rise; gains in oil, tech sectors seen

By Ellen Simon
Associated Press

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NEW YORK — Stocks gained yesterday, narrowing the week's losses as the energy and basic materials sectors improved and Dow components Exxon Mobil Corp. and Intel Corp. climbed on upgrades.

Volume was heavy as options expired, but advances were limited as investors eyed America's current account deficit for April-June. The trade deficit dipped slightly, but still was at the second-highest level in history and on track to surpass last year's record trade deficit of $668.1 billion. Foreign investors continued heavy buying of U.S. Treasury bonds in July, but economists worry that at some point they will no longer want to hold such sizable sums of dollar-denominated assets.

The Dow rose 83.19, or 0.79 percent, to 10,641.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 10.18, or 0.83 percent, to 1,237.91, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 14.20, or 0.66 percent, to 2,160.35.

Bonds continued their decline, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.27 percent from 4.22 percent late Thursday. The U.S. dollar was mixed against other major currencies. Gold prices rose, hitting a 17-year high.

A barrel of light crude settled at $63, down $1.75 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow dropped 36.62, or 0.34 percent over the course of the week; the S&P dropped 3.57, or 0.29 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 15.16, or 0.70 percent.

Intel rose 26 cents to $24.81; Exxon Mobil rose $1.24 to $63.70.

DuPont Co., whose stock often tracks energy companies, was up as oil prices dropped, rising 41 cents to $40.51.

Progressive Corp. rose $4.17 to $102.02 after the insurer said monthly earnings fell 43 percent in August. Through Sept. 14, the insurer had 19,000 claims from Hurricane Katrina.

Advancing issues led decliners by 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume was 3.14 billion, up from 2.07 billion Thursday. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 6.56 to 671.98.