NEW YORK -- Stocks beat a hasty retreat in the final hour of trading to close lower, after bond prices slid and pushed interest rates higher. Dow tumbles 144.75;
bonds offThe Dow Jones industrial average dropped 144.75 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 9,399.67. The Dow opened softer but quickly rallied in the morning, peaking at just over 9,600, or up 55 points, before trimming its gains in late morning and then staging an outright retreat in the afternoon.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 17.77 to 1,253.41, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 36.97 to 2,339.38.
Decliners beat advancers by a nearly 3-to-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,207 up, 1,766 down and 568 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 768.9 million shares vs. 769.77 yesterday.
The NYSE composite index fell 6.45 to 591.57, and the American Stock Exchange composite index lost 5.13 to 695.79. The Russell 2000 index declined 3.75 to 395.26.
"Although (stock) market internals don't look so bad, the weakness in bonds is a problem," said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter. "There doesn't seem to be any great desire to one thing or another, except that bonds are lower."
The price of the 30-year bond was down 11/8 points, or $11.25 for every $1,000 valuation. Its yield, which moves opposite the price, moved above the critical 5.5 percent level to 5.51 percent, from 5.42 percent late yesterday. The rise in interest rates was hurt technology and financial stocks, which had been providing some leadership to the upside in recent sessions.