NEW YORK -- Smaller-company shares rose today, but most leading stock measures fell slightly amid some profit-taking on the market's record-setting rally. Dow off 12.46
The Dow Jones industrial average finished 12.46 points lower at 8,117.25 after recovering from a midday deficit of 57 points. An early-morning 52-point gain had briefly put the Dow within 80 points of its record close of 8,259.31, set on Aug. 6.
Advancers led decliners by a 9-to-7 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,642 up, 1,255 down and 556 unchanged. NYSE volume was 699.18 million shares vs. 694.61 million yesterday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 and the New York Stock Exchange composite also turned lower in the morning to snap a three-day string of record highs. The S&P 500 fell 3.37 to 1,003.53, and the NYSE composite index fell 0.61 to 522.97.
The Nasdaq index, which has gained 7.6 percent over the past seven sessions, dropped 3.54 to close at 1,676.90,.
But the small company-dominated American Stock Exchange composite index rose 2.53 to 677.00 and the Russell 2000 index gained 2.22 points to end at 444.06.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was down 31/32 point, or $9.68 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.93 percent from 5.86 percent late yesterday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Bolstered by hopes that the Asian economic crisis won't prove as traumatic as feared for the industry, technology issues drew an early boost from reports that Netscape Communications Corp., facing intense competition from Microsoft Corp., may be looking to be acquired.