Dow falls 120

Bloomberg News

NEW YORK - The Dow Jones industrial average fell, led by financial companies including American Express & Co., on concern economic reports this week will be strong enough to prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

"You've got a lot of information coming out at the end of the week which is going to influence financial stocks," said Alan Day, a money manager with the Stratevest Group, which oversees $4 billion in Burlington, Vt. Investors "are still a little skeptical about what's going to happen with interest rates."

The Dow average fell 120.32, or 1.2 percent, to 10,349.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 8.02, or 0.6 percent, to 1,293.63, led by oil, drug and financial shares.

The Nasdaq composite index was little changed at 2,815.95, down 0.57 point.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 3-to-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,820 down, 1,194 up and 517 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 772.20 million shares vs. 956.55 million Friday. The NYSE composite index fell 3.85 to 597.31; the American Stock Exchange composite lost 1.39 to 791.22; and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 0.93 to 417.76.

The 30-year Treasury bond price was unchanged and its yield held at 6.35 percent. Earlier, it fell as much as 22/32, sending yields to 6.4 percent, their highest level since Oct. 22, 1997.

The Dow declined although six companies in the average - American Express, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co., Exxon Corp., Chevron Corp., AT&T Corp. and Union Carbide Corp. reported third-quarter earnings that met or exceeded analysts' expectations.