NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrials ended slightly higher today after swinging broadly throughout the session, but the Nasdaq composite extended Friday's fierce sell-off amid concerns about Dell Computer's earnings. Dow gains 22
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 22.14 at 9,297.03.
Decliners led advancers by 1,534 to 1,525 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 478 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 650.41 million shares, vs. 686.16 million Friday. (Markets were closed yesterday for President's Day.)
The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 11.74 to close at 1,241.87, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 8.02 to 2,313.87.
The NYSE composite index rose 5.27 at 586.73. The American Stock Exchange composite index fell 0.28 to 695.84, and the Russell 2000 index lost 2.04 to 396.40.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 1 1/16 point, or $10.621/2 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield fell to 5.35 percent from 5.42 percent late Friday.
Investors sold computer-related technology shares for the second day on nervousness that Dell Computer's earnings, which were released after the close of trading today, would show a downturn in computer sales.
After the closing bell, Dell met expectations by reporting net income for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 29 rose to $425 million, or 31 cents a share, from $285 million, or a split-adjusted 20 cents, in the year-earlier period. Dell also set a 2-for-1 stock split, the seventh split since 1992.
Sales rose 38 percent to $5.17 billion, but that was the first time in nine quarters that Dell's sales growth fell below 50 percent.