NEW YORK -- Blue-chip stocks swung widely and closed lower today as anxiety about third-quarter earnings mounted, but broad-market indexes held their own. Dow off 36.05
The Dow Jones industrial average declined 36.05 points at 7,897.20. The blue-chip index rose 53 points in early trading, retreated to minus 77 points, rallied a second time and then dropped back again. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 5.90 to 1,029.79, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 17.37 to 1,697.80.
Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 5-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,926 up, 1,150 down and 466 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 691.56 million shares vs. 607.51 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite index advanced 3.17 to 510.60, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 5.12 to 633.45.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.60 to 368.24.
The 30-year Treasury bond fell 18 /32 to 105-5 /32, with the yield rising to 5.16 percent.
Investors turned their focus away from problems in the White House to problems in Asia and Russia, and how they will affect the earnings of U.S.-based multinational companies.
"We quickly came back to reality, which is earnings," said Barry Hyman, senior market analyst at Ehrenkrantz King Nussbaum. "There's a fear that third-quarter earnings are really going to look pretty poor."
Internet stocks were strong again today, with Yahoo! Inc. soaring $6.63 to $102.94 and Amazon.com Inc. jumping $2.69 to $88.19 in Nasdaq trading, and America Online Inc. up $3.75 to $106.13 on the Big Board.