Dow drops 51

NEW YORK -- Stocks closed mostly today as investors took some profits from yesterday's hefty jump in prices and looked nervously toward the government's employment report tomorrow. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 51.29 to close at 10,537.05.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 7.76 to close at 1,317.64 but the Nasdaq composite index rose 3.49 to 2,860.70. Decliners beat advancers by a margin of about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,726 down, 1,218 up and 565 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 805.85 million shares vs. 895.88 million yesterday. The NYSE composite fell 3.29 to 606.61; the American Stock Exchange composite index slipped 3.07 to 784.36; and the Russell 2000 fell 1.65 to 4281.11

The 30-year Treasury bond fell 1/32 point, or 31 cents per $1,000 in face value; its yield fell to 6.18 percent from 6.19 percent yesterday. Yields on two-year notes rose to 5.80 percent, the highest in almost two years.

"Taking profits is part of the story today after a big runup on Wednesday and the other part is waiting for tomorrow to see what September's employment numbers look like," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp.

The Dow climbed 187.75 to 10,588.34 yesterday as investors temporarily set aside worries about rising interest rates and focused on corporate earnings. But with the market's volatile performance over the month amid nervousness over interest rates, many investors decided to take a prudent approach today and collect profits before the September employment report from the Labor Department tomorrow.