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Nasdaq just misses
Associated Press
record; Dow falls 162NEW YORK - Technology stocks drove the Nasdaq composite index tantalizingly close to a record today, while blue-chip shares tumbled as worries about rising interest rates distracted investors from strong fourth-quarter corporate earnings reports. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 162.26 to close at 11,560.72. Profit-taking following last week's rally also contributed to some selling.
The Nasdaq rose 66.54 to 4,130.81, just shy of its Jan. 3 closing record of 4,131.15. The Nasdaq has now gone through 10 straight sessions without setting a record, the longest streak since late October, when the technology-dominated index began a sprint that lasted through the start of the new year. Broader stock indicators were mixed as the Standard & Poor's 500 fell 10.01 to 1,455.14. Decliners beat advancers by a 7-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,794 down, 1,290 up and 453 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 1.01 billion shares compared with 1.07 billion on Friday. The NYSE composite index fell 5.85 to 643.92, the American Stock Exchange composite index jumped 16.60 to 886.34 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.81 to 513.43.
The 10-year note, a benchmark for setting prices in corporate debt sales, led the decline in the Treasuries market as its yield climbed 7 basis points to 6.75 percent. It now yields more than the current 30-year bond, whose yield rose 5 basis points to 6.74 percent. That hasn't happened since December 1994, when the Treasury market posted its worst year on record. The 30-year bond fell 22/32, or $6.88 per $1,000 face amount, to a price of 92 2/32.
The Nasdaq rallied today following the merger of JDS Uniphase Corp. and E-Tek Dynamics Inc., two companies that make components used in optical networking. E-Tek soared $42.50 to $178.37, while JDS Uniphase gained $3.50 to $195.69.