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Dow loses 79.7
Associated PressNEW YORK - Stocks closed mostly lower today as investors took profits after three consecutive strong sessions. Banking and retail names fell as investors realized that an economic slowdown may keep inflation at bay, but also will hurt some business sectors.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 79.73 to close at 10,735.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 9.79 to 1,457.84, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 65.37, or 1.7 percent, to 3,756.39.
Advancers beat decliners by a 10-to-9 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,522 up, 1,391 down and 485 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 939.88 million shares vs. 833.50 million yesterday. The NYSE composite index fell 2.16 to 653.00; the Russell 2000 index slipped 1.65 to 511.65; but the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 7.61 to 928.18. The 30-year bond price rose 4/32 point, or $1.25 per $1,000 in face value; the yield was unchanged from late yesterday's 5.91 percent.
J.P. Morgan contributed most to the Dow's decline. Merrill Lynch analyst Judah Kraushaar told clients that periods of rising interest rates have typically been bad for investment banking revenue.
Stocks that fell prey to profit-takers included Sun Microsystems. But a broad range of tech stocks advanced. Microsoft, Qualcomm and Healtheon/Web MD rose. Also on the Nasdaq, Starbucks Corp. rose $1.87 to $37.50. The coffee company will be added to the Standard & Poor's 500 on yesterday, prompting many index-fund managers to buy the stock so that their portfolios will continue to mirror the S&P 500.
Trading volume was fairly low as investors opted to wait for more information on the strength of the U.S. economy before taking significant new positions. The next potentially market-moving report will reach traders on Friday, when the Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index. A benign report could propel the market higher, analysts said.