NEW YORK -- Blue-chip stocks fell today, extending yesterday's 225-point plunge by the Dow Jones industrial average and pushing that index to its lowest level in three months. Dow off 74.40
But strength among technology shares and smaller-company issues bolstered the broad market, with the Nasdaq composite index rising back toward record territory.
The Dow fell 74.40 to 10,524.07, about 800 points below its record-high close of 11,326.04 set Aug. 25.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 2.93 to 1,310.51, and the Nasdaq rose 37.06 to 2,858.16, about 30 points shy of a new high.
Decliners beat advancers by a 4-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,222 up, 1,719 down and 563 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 808.80 million shares, up from 788.86 yesterday.
The New York Stock Exchange composite index edged up 0.17 to 601.16, the American Stock Exchange composite index slipped 2.53 to 782.45 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.03 to 427.53.
The 30-year bond fell 1/32, or 31 cents per $1,000 face amount, to a price of 100 14/32. Its yield held at 6.09 percent.
In the technology group, 3Com Corp. rose $1.31 to $28.621/2 after the maker of computer network products and Palm Pilot organizers topped Wall Street forecasts with late yesterday's profit report.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average tumbled 607.03, or 3.4 percent, to 17,325.66, its biggest decline in 11 months.
The sell-off occurred after the Bank of Japan failed to counter gains in the yen that threaten exporters' earnings and the economic recovery.