NEW YORK -- Stocks pulled back today as a return to record levels remained on hold with no clear resolution to last week's interest rate worries. Dow falls 45
The Dow Jones industrial average fell almost exactly as much as it rose yesterday in setting a new high, slipping 45.09 points to close 9,147.57.
Decliners led advancers by an 8-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,134 up, 1,813 down and 564 unchanged. NYSE volume was 573.06 million shares, on par with the modest pace of the prior two sessions.
Broader indexes also extended late yesterday's downturn, which halted a three-session rally just as the market was returning to record levels.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 6.42 to 1,115.65, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 13.95 to 1,864.91. The NYSE composite index fell 2.98 to 579.75, and the American Stock Exchange composite index lost 3.52 to 745.28. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.72 to end at 481.74.
Stocks were pressured throughout the day by a weak bond market, where the yield on the 30-year Treasury -- a key influence on borrowing costs -- rose back toward 6 percent.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was down 9/6 point, or $5.62-1/2 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.98 percent from 5.93 percent late yesterday.
Meanwhile, in late trading this afternoon, the dollar fell to 131.67 yen from 133.05 yen late yesterday in New York after Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said that Japan shouldn't depend on a declining currency to bolster its beleaguered economy.