NEW YORK -- Stocks fell sharply today, with a profit warning from Motorola Inc. dragging the technology group lower and the Dow Jones industrial average sinking back below 9,000 a day after its first close above that milestone. Dow falls 76.73
The Dow fell 76.73 points to close at 8,956.50 after recovering from an afternoon deficit of nearly 140 points. Broad-market indexes also sank, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq market suffering the heaviest damage.
Decliners led advancers by a 7-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 897 up, 2,116 down and 482 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 664.12 million shares vs. 623.05 million yesterday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 list fell 11.84 to close at 1,109.55, and the NYSE composite fell 5.42 at 577.75 after closing at a record high for the fourth consecutive session yesterday. The Nasdaq composite fell 30.41 at 1,798.73. The Russell 2000 index lost 6.73 points to close at 475.15. The American Stock Exchange composite index fell 7.13 at 735.65.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was off 7/32 point, or $2.19 cents per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.84 percent from 5.82 percent late yesterday.
Motorola's shares plunged more than 10 percent in heavy trading following late yesterday's profit warning by the maker of telecommunications equipment and computer chips.
The Dow, still up more than 13 percent this year, was weighed down by Travelers Group Inc. The financial services giant surged 11 points on yesterday amid news of its planned $70 billion merger with Citicorp, which also retreated after surging 37 points on Monday.