NEW YORK -- Stock prices closed mixed today as investors prepared themselves for a possible increase in interest rates but nonetheless went in search of bargains in the battered technology sector. Dow off 18.37
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 18.37 at 10,577.89. The index fell as much as 131.40 points earlier in the session before erasing most of the losses in the final hour of trading.
Broader stock indicators were higher after paring big losses. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.55 to 1,294.81. The technology-dominated Nasdaq composite index rose 20.39 to 2,432.42, after being down as much as 47 points earlier.
Decliners beat advancers by a 6-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,612 down, 1,329 up and 591 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 732.65 million shares vs. 685.2 million yesterday. The NYSE composite fell 0.78 to 620.50; the American Stock Exchange composite dropped 4.88 to 771.23; and the Russell 2000 lost 0.72 to 436.74.
The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond was little changed at 90 18/32, leaving yields at 5.93 percent.
An afternoon speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan helped calm a jittery market. The influential policy-maker kept his remarks at a business conference in Boston tightly focused on trade, and did not address interest rates. The market has been rattled for more than two weeks by persistent fears that the Fed will soon raise rates to cool off the booming economy. "The biggest bull market in history has been aided and abetted by a friendly Fed," said Larry Wachtel, analyst at Prudential Securities. "Everyone is afraid of what will happen if the Fed turns unfriendly."