It might have been a year-end rally...

It might have been a year-end rally that started Monday, but, whatever the reasons, investors finally came out of their shells during the past week, according to Irving Katz, director of research for Thomas Green/San Diego Securities.

Some stocks showed their strength despite a low level of trading volume--and despite the fact that many brokers are recommending that the stock portion of their asset allocation models be lowered, according to Katz.

Foodmaker, the San Diego-based parent company of Jack in the Box, finally went private at $19.425 a share. The stock will be dropped from Los Angeles Times’ stock charts because the New York Stock Exchange suspended Foodmaker trading Friday.

Some surprisingly good gains were made by Great American First Savings Bank. It was the only local S&L; to move up last week, gaining $1.625. Great American is the largest holder of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) preferred stock, which will be tradable by the public after Jan. 1. Freddie Mac preferred is trading at $52 a share after a 4-for-1 split. Great American’s cost basis for its Freddie Mac holdings is less than $20 a share, Katz said.

Rohr Industries gained $1.375 for the week. During Saturday’s upbeat annual meeting, company executives said the Chula Vista-based company has a firm backlog of $1.6 billion and potential future orders could add another $1.9 billion in backlog. New orders for commercial aircraft, which had been averaging 650 a year for three years, climbed to 950 during 1988.

San Diego Gas & Electric, which finally succumbed to SCEcorp’s merger proposal, was down $.375 for the week.

Pancretec reached a new high of $7.875 despite a lack of news.