Stocks Turn in Mixed Showing; Dow Up 0.22

NEW YORK —  The stock market turned in a mixed showing Thursday, halting its sharp decline of the past four sessions but failing to mount any sustained rally.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, which had fallen 42.73 points in the past four trading days to a three-month low, edged up 0.22 to 1,242.27.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange stepped up to 107.74 million shares from 101.55 million Wednesday.

Analysts said investors still were troubled by disappointing corporate earnings reports, signs of a slowing economy and uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates.

Rates declined slightly in the bond market Thursday as traders awaited next week’s record $20.5-billion offering of Treasury bonds and notes.

Houston Natural Gas Up

Brokers also said prices of many stocks, particularly the leading blue chips, had fallen to levels where they tempted traders to do a little buying.

Houston Natural Gas jumped 8 1/2 to 67 1/8 after surging 11 3/4 points Wednesday. As had been rumored, the company agreed to be acquired by InterNorth for $70 a share. InterNorth, meanwhile, fell 3 1/2 to 48.

E. F. Hutton Group tumbled 3 1/2 to 29. The company’s brokerage subsidiary, E. F. Hutton & Co., pleaded guilty to mail- and wire-fraud violations in connection with the handling of its checking accounts at commercial banks between 1980 and 1982.

Trans World Airlines shares had a volatile day, falling as low as 14 5/8 and rebounding late in the session to close at 15, down 1 from Wednesday. Unconfirmed reports on Wall Street have it that financier Carl C. Icahn is an active buyer of the stock.

Some other airline stocks gained. UAL was up 1 5/8 at 42, Delta added 1 1/8 to 41 3/4 and AMR rose 5/8 to 39 7/8.

In the recently depressed auto group, General Motors climbed 5/8 to 67 and Ford Motor 5/8 to 40 3/4. Chrysler, however, was off 3/8 at 34.

Upjohn rose 4 1/8 to 87 3/4, while Dow Chemical was up at 30. Dow plans to buy Upjohn’s polymer chemical business.

Atlantic Richfield, the volume leader on turnover of more than 7 million shares, dropped 3/8 to 62 7/8. The stock had risen strongly since early this week, when the company announced a restructuring and stock repurchase plan as well as a dividend increase.

In the daily tally on the Big Board, declining issues slightly outnumbered advances. The exchange’s composite index of all its listed common stocks rose 0.27 to 103.62.

Nationwide turnover in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 125.80 million shares.

Standard & Poor’s index of 400 industrials gained 0.49 to 198.81, and S&P;’s 500-stock composite index was up .64 at 179.01.

The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market slipped 0.62 to 279.01.

At the American Stock Exchange, the market-value index closed at 225.34, down 0.91.

Large-Block Trades Rise

The Wilshire index of 5,000 equities closed at 1,843.285, up 4.163.

Large blocks of 10,000 or more shares traded on the NYSE totaled 2,188, compared to 1,961 on Wednesday.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments rose 3/32 point, intermediate maturities gained 8/32 point and long-term issues were up 11/32 point, according to the investment firm of Salomon Bros. The movement of a full point is equivalent to a change of $10 in the price of a bond with a $1,000 face value.

In corporate trading, industrials and utilities climbed 3/8 point in light trading.

Among tax-exempt municipal bonds, revenue bonds edged up 1/8 point and general obligations were little changed. Trading was moderate.

Yields on three-month Treasury bills, meanwhile, slipped 1 basis point to 7.74%. Six-month bills lost 2 basis points to 8.01%, and one-year bills were off 3 basis points at 8.21%.

Yields on 30-year Treasury bonds fell to 11.34% from 11.39% late Wednesday.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, traded at 8.625%, down from 9% late Wednesday.