NEW YORK -- Stocks fell sharply today in a late selloff, with the Dow Jones industrial average sliding below 9,000 amid signs that the market's record-setting advance has petered out. Dow falls 150.7 to
below 9,000The Dow fell 150.71 points to close at 8,963.73, its fourth trip back below 9,000 since the blue-chip barometer first closed above that milestone on April 6. An early 54-point gain had put the Dow within 50 points of May 13's closing record of 9,211.84.
Decliners led advancers by a 5-to-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 861 up, 2,237 down and 453 unchanged. NYSE volume was 529.30 million shares, up from Friday's sluggish pre-holiday tally of 439.56 million.
Broad-market indicators also plunged over the final hour after surrendering modest opening gains. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite suffered heavy losses for the fourth straight session.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 16.45 to 1,094.02, and the Nasdaq composite lost 26.91 to 1,778.09. The NYSE composite index fell 8.52 at 566.26, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 6.42 to 720.33. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 7.91 to 455.08.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 13/16 point, or $8.121/2 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield dropped to 5.84 percent from 5.90 percent late Friday. The bond market was closed yesterday for Memorial Day.
Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average rose 0.6 percent, but the South Korean composite index dived 6 percent.