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NEW YORK — The Dow Jones industrials scored their second straight triple-digit gain Monday, as investors grew more optimistic that Wall Street might be recovering after two weeks of heavy losses. 

Although the market extended a rally that began Friday, analysts warned there are no guarantees that the gains would be sustained in the long term. 

“I don’t see any conviction behind it,” said Tony Cecin, senior managing director and head of equity trading at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc. “We need to see three, four, five days of plus-Dow movement on increasing volume every day before people begin to feel this is something they can maybe pin their hats to.” 

While the general atmosphere was improving, the market still showed its vulnerability. 

Cisco Systems dropped 81 cents to $17.87, hitting a 52-week low, after two analysts lowered their estimates for the Internet networking company’s third-quarter and fiscal 2001 results.  

The decline also followed a Financial Times report in which chief executive officer John Chambers predicted the economic downturn would continue for at least three quarters. 

But analysts saw some strength in the market despite Cisco’s slide. Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. said it was a “very telling statement” that the Nasdaq, while lower, for the most part held its own although one of its leading stocks was struggling. 

“My personal feeling is that most – if not all – the damage has been done on the Nasdaq,” said Cecin. 

Other losers on the Nasdaq included Intel, which fell 50 cents to $28.31, Sun Microsystems, down $1.01 at $17.24 and Microsoft, which declined 50 cents to $56.06. 

Sectors that were hard-hit the past two weeks recovered Monday, including health care. Merck rose $2.50 to $71.48 and Pfizer was up $1.21 at $38.74. Financial stocks also were ahead, with Bear Stearns up 96 cents at $47.35 and Cigna gaining $2.02 to $105.03. 

— The Associated Press 

Utility stocks benefited from news that California’s top power regulator proposed a 40 percent increase in electricity rates. Pacific Gas & Electric rose $3.10 to $13.75 and Edison International shot up $3.35 to $14.55. 

The market also drew some strength from expectations of lower interest rates. 

Alan Ackerman, executive vice president of Fahnestock & Co., suggested investors are anticipating that the Conference Board’s report on consumer confidence, due out Tuesday, will raise the prospect of a slowdown in consumer spending and encourage the Federal Reserve to lower rates before it meets again in mid-May. 

In addition, the government reported Monday that new home sales fell 2.4 percent in February, providing additional evidence that consumers are cutting back because of the slowing economy. 

Analysts believed that Monday’s advance, while a good sign, might not be sustainable because companies are still in the process of issuing warnings about disappointing first-quarter earnings. So it is quite possible that more selling is ahead. 

The Dow closed Friday at 9,504.78, down 1,139.84, or 10.7 percent, during the previous two weeks and 18.9 percent off its peak of 11,722.98, reached Jan. 14, 2000. 

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 1.34 billion, down from the 1.58 billion traded Friday. 

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks the performance of smaller companies stocks, was up 4.11 at 447.38. 

Overseas market were higher Monday. Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed up 4.9 percent. 

In Europe, Germany’s DAX index rose 3.3 percent, Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 3.2 percent, and France’s CAC-40 climbed 3.5 percent. 

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On the Net: 

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com 

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com