The bond market found little comfort in the reports, with traders and investors promptly pushing rates up a bit from Tuesday's levels.

The selloff came after traders had pushed yields on long-term issues to their lowest level of the year.

In doing so, traders briefly pushed the rate on long-term Treasury bonds to 4.81 percent from 4.76 percent.

In other sectors, traders pushed some airline issues higher.

Bond prices rose, and traders pushed short-term interest rates to their lowest level since 1998.

He said traders and investors, by selling relentlessly last month, had pushed interest rates much higher than what could be justified by the economic outlook.

After bidding stock prices down on Thursday, traders pushed them up yesterday in unusually heavy trading as bond prices steadied.

Nearby, traders pushed their barrows through the crowd, crying out in the same strange singsong tongue as the watching women.

The dollar rallied on world markets after traders had pushed it to new lows against the mark and the yen.

Analysts said traders were optimistic about the outlook for the economy, pushing the Dow up 30.08 points, to 4,615.23.