NEW YORK -- Technology stocks, which have outrun the broader market for weeks, toppled it today. The Dow Jones industrials gave up a 97-point gain to finish with a loss as investors shed stocks including AT&T Corp. and Intel Corp. Dow off 70.11
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 70.11 to close at 10,877.81.
Broader stock indicators were also sharply lower. The Nasdaq composite index fell 85.22 to 3,336.15, its worst point loss since Sept. 23 when it shed 108.33. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 18.76 to 1,389.07.
Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 10-to-9 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,597 up, 1,513 down and 464 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 952.97 million shares vs. 863.90 million yesterday. The NYSE composite index fell 5.32 to 631.18, the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 0.69 to 832.81 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.87 to 454.08.
Thirty-year bonds rose 11/32, or $3.44 per $1,000 face amount, to a price of 97 29/32. Yields fell 3 basis points to 6.28 percent.
For most of the day, blue-chips attracted buyers even as investors were selling technology stocks to lock in profits from their stunning run in the past few weeks.
But as the Nasdaq's losses widened, the broader market eventually collapsed, said Gary Kaltbaum, chief technical analyst at J.W. Genesis Securities in Boca Raton, Fla.
"As technology goes, it will take the rest of the market with it," he said. "Technology makes up so much of the S&P 500, and an increasing share of the Dow, that most averages can't hold up without it."