Dow dives 87.44

NEW YORK -- Stocks slid into the close today, once again failing to sustain an early advance as the market remained handcuffed by worries about company profits.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 87.44 points to 8,803.80, turning lower late in the session for the second straight day.

Decliners led advancers by a 9-to-8 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,409 up, 1,594 down and 541 unchanged. NYSE volume was 576.52 million shares vs. 589.22 million yesterday.

Broader stock indexes also surrendered early gains and then fell sharply over the final 90 minutes.

The Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 10.30 to 1,082.73, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 19.48 to 1,742.31. The NYSE composite index lost 3.92 to 561.43, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 1.82 to 704.48. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies dropped 0.54 to 449.16.

The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond fell 3/32, or 94 cents per $1,000 bond, leaving its yield at 5.79 percent.

Without any major developments to clarify the uncertain outlook on company profits, analysts say it's unlikely the stock market will break out of its two-month rut any time soon.

While demand for stocks has remained strong enough to interrupt any steep slide, the market has also been unable to build much momentum amid mounting worries over how much the economic crisis in Asia is hurting U.S. companies.

Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average fell 1.3 percent, Frankfurt's DAX index rose 0.6 percent and London's FTSE 100 rose 1.0 percent.