The stock market has gotten a modest boost from new government reports pointing to an economic slowdown. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials rose 7.29 points Monday to 2,140.47. The Commerce Department reported that goods held on shelves and backlots in August rose 0.8 percent to $733.7 billion, following a 0.7 percent gain in July. It was the 20th consecutive monthly increase. Rising inventories can be a sign of economic sluggishness as manufacturers order production cuts and layoffs while goods in reserve are sold off. In another government report, the Federal Reserve Board said the overall operating rate last month at U.S. factories, mines and utilities fell to 83.6 percent of capacity, down 0.2 percentage point from August. The strain on the nation's industrial capacity eased for the first time in seven months as utilities scaled back after the summer heat wave, the Fed said. The latest government reports also supported bond prices, driving interest rates lower. The yield on the Treasury's closely watched 30-year bond fell to 8.86 percent from 8.90 percent late Friday. In foreign-exchange trading, the dollar rose against most major currencies after reports of intervention by the Bank of Japan lifted it from its lows of the day. The U.S. currency finished in New York at around 127.07 Japanese yen, up from 126.70 yen late Friday. As part of its business inventories report, the Commerce Department said August sales totaled $487.7 billion, up a brisk 1.1 percent from July, when the gain was a slight 0.1 percent. It was the ninth increase in a row. In other economic developments Monday: _A Harvard Business Review report concluded that an entrenched budget deficit and fundamental policy flaws have destabilized the nation's economy, and the next president will have to take major steps to turn it around. _The oil ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said they supported an increase in OPEC's output quotas as a way to try to stabilize prices. Analysts said stock traders took a generally upbeat view of the current state of the economy, believing that growth has slowed of late to a steady, sustainable pace. But inflation worries haven't been entirely snuffed out on Wall Street, and brokers said investors were looking ahead warily to Friday's scheduled report on the consumer price index for September. Furthermore, just about all market-watchers agree, investors are likely to be leery of stocks all week with the anniversary Wednesday of last fall's crash, and all the attendant publicity.
