Dow Slips 7.47 After Five Days of Advances

The stock market turned lower Thursday, snapping a five-day winning streak as investors retreated to the sidelines to wait for the jobs data for July due today.

The Dow Jones index of 30 industrials finished down 7.47 at 2,126.60, erasing the weak gains of the previous three sessions. The Dow had risen more than 80 points in the past five sessions, but the last three advances added up to only 5.34 points.

Declining issues outnumbered advances by about 5 to 4 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks.

Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to 157.24 million shares, down from 203.59 million in the previous session.

Bonds Spark Buying

The market started off on a firm footing Thursday but retreated by mid-morning even though U.S. bond prices rose and the dollar was firm on foreign exchange markets.

Interest rates fell in the credit markets Thursday, leaving yields on long-term government bonds just a shade above 9%.

That was enough to spark a brief round of buying in the stock market, but the advance didn’t last long.

Wall Street has been looking ahead with some trepidation all week to the government’s report today on the employment situation for July.

The talk has been that the figures will show continuing strong growth in payroll employment, thus giving the Federal Reserve another reason to consider tightening credit.

Losers among the blue chips included General Motors, down 1/2 at 79; International Business Machines, down 3/8 at 124; Exxon, down at 47 1/8, and American Express, down 3/8 at 29 5/8.

GTE climbed 1/2 to 41 1/8 in active trading. The company raised its dividend and announced plans to buy back as many as 25 million of its shares.

Insilco gained 2 to 29. The company agreed to be bought out by a group including its top executives for $29 a share.

Retailing issues were mostly lower as the big general merchandise chains reported what analysts described as disappointing sales figures for July. K mart fell 5/8 to 33 1/2; Sears, Roebuck fell to 36 1/8, and J. C. Penney dropped 3/8 to 48 5/8.

Indexes Mostly Lower

Quaker Oats dropped to 52 1/2 after trading as high as 58. The company, which has been the subject of intense takeover speculation lately, said it asked the NYSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the rumors and the activity in its stock.

Clayton Homes gained 3/4 to 10 7/8 on higher quarterly profits.

The Wilshire index of 5,000 equities closed at 2,706.300, down 7.485 from Wednesday’s close.

The NYSE’s composite index of all its listed common stocks dropped 0.48 to 153.55.

Standard & Poor’s industrial index fell 1.37 to 313.21, and S&P;’s 500-stock composite index was down 1.05 at 271.93.

The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market rose 0.34 to 388.86. At the American Stock Exchange, the market-value index closed at 305.33, down 1.01.

In foreign trading, Tokyo stocks rose to record highs but succumbed to profit taking and closed lower on light trading volume.

The Nikkei 225-share index fell 55.79 points to 28,292.66. It lost 17.88 points Wednesday.

Share prices rose on the London Stock Exchange, boosted by takeover talk and some interest from major financial institutions.

The Financial Times 100-share index rose 4.6 points to 1,869.7, just below the day’s high of 1,870.5 at early afternoon.