NEW YORK -- Technology shares rose today after a robust profit report from Dell Computer, but blue-chip shares pulled back from a foray into record territory as interest rates jumped in the bond market. Dow falls 13 amid tech rally
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 12.77 to 7,290.69 after recovering from a 64-point drop. In the morning, the Dow surrendered a 50-point gain that would have beaten last Thursday's record finish at 7,333.55.
Advancers issues outnumbered decliners by more than a 5-to-4 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,450 up, 1,140 down and 773 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 537.05 million shares vs. 447.17 million yesterday.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list fell 2.27 to 839.39, and the NYSE's composite index fell 0.99 to 436.21. Both big-company measures flirted with record highs in the morning before turning lower.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 9.87 to 1,373.75, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 1.32 to 592.08.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq market drew a big boost from Dell's powerful earnings report, which was released after yesterday's close.
Stocks drew heavy pressure from the bond market, where interest rates jumped as inflation worries re-emerged just a day after the Federal Reserve's apparent determination that inflationary pressures remain tame.
As bond prices fell today, the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond -- a key determinant of long-term borrowing costs -- rose as high as 6.98 percent.
Bonds fell after the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed dramatically in March to $8.5 billion as U.S. exports rose to a second consecutive monthly record.
The surprisingly robust data spurred worries that economic growth was even quicker in the first quarter than the 5.6 percent rate recently reported. That advance in the gross domestic product was the fastest in nearly a decade.