NEW YORK -- Stocks fell sharply today, extending a slide that began late yesterday and halted a partial rebound from Monday's brutal sell-off. Dow off 100
The Dow Jones industrial average finished 100.15 points lower at 7,682.22 as a spurt of bargain hunting trimmed a 203-point deficit over the final half hour. It ended about 2.9 percent below this year's starting point and 17.7 percent below the July peak. Broader indicators also recovered partially before the close after sliding hard before a pre-holiday session that many investors may skip.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 8.21 to 982.26, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 20.99 to 1,571.86. Decliners outnumbered advancers by a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,019 up, 2,114 down and 401 unchanged.
NYSE volume totaled 874.47 million shares vs. 891.50 million yesterday. The NYSE composite index fell 4.74 to 489.89, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 3.91 to 598.70.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 6.36 to 346.29.
The market swung higher and lower throughout the day, which was ushered in by another day of sharp losses in European markets, which have been rattled by Russia's deepening economic crisis.
The Russian ruble fell sharply again today as Boris Yeltsin and his rivals in parliament headed for a showdown vote over the president's candidate to lead a new government. Meanwhile, in Japan, electronics maker Hitachi warned of its first annual loss since the end of World War II and Toa Steel announced plans to close in the biggest-ever failure of a Japanese manufacturer.