NEW YORK -- Stocks dipped today as investors eagerly gleaned profits from the bullish New Year markets. The soaring technology sector was hardest hit. Dow drops 145;
Nasdaq off 64The Dow Jones industrial average fell 145.21 at 9,474.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 24.36 at 1,239.52, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 63.77 to 2,320.82.
"After the enormous run we've had, with the frenetic movement in some of these technology and Internet stocks, I consider this 99.999 percent profit-taking," said Charles Pradilla, chief investment strategist at Cowen & Co.
"It's a very normal pullback," he added. "A lot of portfolio managers think maybe the market is ahead of itself."
Decliners beat advancers by a 12-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,186 up, 892 down and 470 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 789.44 million shares vs. 810.69 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite index fell 9.45 at 594.59, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 7.67 at 699.65. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.77 at 427.36.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 1 13/32 points, or $14.06 per $1,000 in face value, by early afternoon today, while its yield fell to 5.21 percent from 5.31 percent late yesterday.
Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average was down 0.06 percent. Germany's DAX index fell 1.34 percent, Britain's FT-SE 100 was down 0.84 percent, and France's CAC-40 was down 2.41 percent.