NEW YORK -- Stocks pulled back from record levels today as a profit disappointment from Merck & Co. and a rocky day on Japanese markets provided unsettling reminders of the unresolved economic crisis in Asia. Dow off 85.7
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 85.70 points to 9,076.57 after trimming a late 120-point slide. The barometer of 30 blue-chip companies closed at new highs the previous two sessions, gaining 150 points.
Decliners led advancers by a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,006 up, 1,994 down and 516 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled a hefty 695.38 million shares, up from 677.23 million yesterday.
Broad-market indicators also posted sizable losses, although the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index was cushioned by another rally in the Internet group.
The Standard & Poor's 500 list fell 11.15 to 1,108.17, and the NYSE composite index fell 5.86 to 576.91. The Nasdaq composite index, which rose 20 points yesterday to a new high, fell 5.02 to 1,858.24. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.71 to 484.41, and the American Stock Exchange composite index dropped 3.11 to 739.35.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 7/32 point, or $2.19 per $1,000 in face value, in late-afternoon trading, while its yield fell to 5.87 percent from 5.88 percent late yesterday.
The dollar rose sharply against the Japanese yen today, sending Tokyo's Nikkei stock index down 2.5 percent, after a Washington gathering of officials from the Group of Seven industrialized nations failed to produce a clear-cut plan to support the yen.