NEW YORK -- Stocks ended lower today, as technology stocks continued to slide. Shares of Internet brokerages and computer-chip makers posted the steepest declines, but every part of the high-tech sector was hit by the selloff. Dow down slightly--0.26
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.26 point to close at 9,304.24.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 9.09 to 1,239.40, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 36.45, or 1.5 percent, to 2,373.62. Yesterday, the Nasdaq index fell 3.34 percent.
Decliners beat advancers by a 3-to-2 margin today on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,774 down, 1,158 down and 586 unchanged. NYSE volume was 870.15 million shares, vs. 859.73 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite index dropped 3.76 points to 587.29; the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 0.86 point to 706.26; and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies lost 5.07 points to 412.72.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was off 13/16 point, or $8.121/2 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.34 percent from 5.29 percent late yesterday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The modestly lower Dow close followed a day of narrow swings between positive and negative territory. For most of the session, the Dow stayed within 20 points of yesterday's close.
The Nasdaq market was lower throughout the day. An overall weakness in technology stocks was compounded by the chip makers, which some analysts expect to launch a price war as competition heats up between Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.