Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Dow off 150;
Nasdaq drops 148

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Stock prices tumbled today as investors refused to buy into a market facing rising interest rates. Tech stocks, among the market's most highly valued issues, led the drop.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 150.43, or 1,4 percent, to 10,626.85. The Nasdaq composite index fell 148.31, or 4.2 percent, to 3,390.40. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 30.26, down 2.1 percent, to 1,406.95.

Decliners led advancers by a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,923 down, 947 up and 483 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 853.84 million shares vs. 808.68 million yesterday. The NYSE composite index fell 10.04 to 639.55; the American Stock Exchange index dropped 14.49 to 914.03; and the Russell 2000 sank 11.25 to end at 479.70.

The U.S. Treasury's two-year note rose point, or $1.25 per $1,000 security; its yield fell 7 basis points to 6.83 percent. The 10-year note rose 11/32; pushing its yield down 5 basis points to 6.49 percent. The 30-year bond rose point driving its yield 2 basis points lower to 6.21 percent.

Three days after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, investors continued moving away from the stocks seen as most vulnerable. "There is a lot of fear out there," said Alfred E. Goldman, director of market analysis at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. "People are concerned and worried about how high interest rates will go . . . and this market will be volatile until there is evidence on the table that the Fed will not derail the economy."