NEW YORK -- Stocks ended mixed today, bouncing back from a broad selloff on profit warnings from several companies as most Wall Street professionals kept an eye on Hurricane Floyd. Dow down 64
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 63.96 to close at 10,737.46. Earlier in the session, the Dow had dropped as much as 174 points.
Broader stock indicators ended mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.51 to 1,318.48, the Nasdaq composite fell 7.45 to 2,806.72. Decliners led advancers by an 11-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,065 down, 891 up and 531 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 727.05 million shares vs. 788.13 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite slipped 1.15 to 607.32; the American Stock Exchange index dropped 6.68 to 790.80; and the Russell 2000 index fell 6.08 to 430.25.
The price of the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rose 11/32 point, or $3.44 per $1,000 in face value. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 6.07 percent from yesterday's 6.10 percent.
With heavy rains from the hurricane threatening to disrupt travel in and around New York, the Bond Market Association, an industry trade group, decided Thursday morning to close the session at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Stock markets held regular trading sessions.
Volume was relatively light as Hurricane Floyd produced heavy rains that kept many New York traders out of work. But the threat of worse weather on Friday kept many others on the trading floor to clear their portfolios. Friday also marks a "triple witching" session, when contracts on stock options, index options, and index futures all expire, and many traders chose to settle accounts today.