NEW YORK - Stocks fell today as 1998 earnings expectations continued to dampen, prompting investors to lock in some gains from this week's rebound. Dow falls 92.9
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 92.92 points to close at 7,691.77. The blue-chip average had gained 204 points the prior three session, nearly wiping out Friday's 222-point slide.
Decliners led advancers by a 6-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,349 up, 1,602 down and 516 unchanged. NYSE volume was 568.04 million shares vs. 591.64 million yesterday.
Broad-market indicators also pulled back, although technology sector held firm enough to limit the damage in the Nasdaq market.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 7.20 to 950.74, the NYSE composite index lost 3.39 to 497.96, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 3.10 to 655.54.
The Nasdaq composite index fell just 1.70 to 1,547.06, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies slipped 0.18 to 421.75.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was off 3/16 point, or 1.871/2 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.74 percent, from 5.73 yesterday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Stocks were weighed down at the open after some of Southeast Asia's battered markets took a turn for worse following a two-day rebound. Hong Kong's key market index plunged 7 percent amid profit-taking from recent gains and concerns about the financial health of a major property developer.
In Indonesia, President Suharto signed a major reform package with the IMF to help pull the world's fourth most-populous nation out of its economic slump, but Jakarta's market fell 4.1 percent as traders' optimism faded.
In Europe, Frankfurt's DAX index was down 1.0 percent and London's FT-SE 100 was up 1.2 percent. Japanese financial markets were closed for a holiday.