The Dow Jones industrial average fell 13.72 to 5,464.31, rebounding from a loss of 55 earlier in the afternoon.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 11 to 9 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,047 up, 1,292 down and 792 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 375.66 million shares vs. 427.81 million in the previous session.
Most broader market measures were lower too, but in keeping with the recent trend, the day's losses were steeper in the blue-
chip sector than in those indexes dominated by more speculative issues. The NYSE composite fell 0.66 to 344.74. The S&P 500 list fell 0.82 to 640.81.
At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index fell 0.59 to 589.10.
The Nasdaq composite index and the Russell 2000, both dominated by technology and smaller-
company shares, managed slight gains on the day after a late rebound in those sectors.
The Nasdaq composite gained 1.27 to 1,185.87. The Russell 200 list of smaller companies rose 0.02 to 346.87.
"The market may try to rally, but the buy programs won't provide as much upside because there's some real fundamental selling," said David Bostian, chief economist at Herzog, Heine, Geduld Inc. "Investors are belatedly realizing we have some underlying problems."