NEW YORK -- A big drop by Walt Disney Co. held back the Dow industrials, but most stocks rose today after overcoming profit-taking on the two-week rally. Dow drops 45
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 45.34 points to 8,952.02, halting a five-session winning streak that added 286 points to the barometer of 30 big companies.
Even so, the Dow finished out the first half of 1998 with an impressive gain of 13.2 percent, well beyond what most analysts expected for the entire year.
Advancers beat decliners by a 4-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,741 up, 1,315 down and 486 unchanged. NYSE volume was 751.95 million shares, up sharply from 543.71 million yesterday.
Most broad-market indicators turned higher late in the session, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index up 3.66 to 1,894.74, pushing this year's gain to 20.7 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 briefly flirted with a third straight record close, but pulled back over the final hour, falling 4.65 to 1,133.84. The S&P 500's midyear gain is 16.8 percent
The NYSE composite index fell 1.44 to 578.73, but is up 13 percent so far in 1998. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 0.47 to 721.28 and is 5.36 percent in the first half. And the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.56 to 457.39 for a 4.66 percent gain so far in 1998.
Bonds climbed today, rounding out a winning quarter. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rose 1/4, or $2.50 per $1,000 bond, pushing its yield down to 5.62 percent.
Disney plunged the equivalent of 32 Dow points after several top analysts lowered their profit forecasts and ratings on the company.