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Dow loses 64
Associated PressNEW YORK - Stocks slumped today as investors locked in gains from the technology rebound despite some strong profit reports by major companies and a mostly unsurprising inflation report.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 64.35 to close at 10,739.92 after falling as much as 101 points during the session. The Nasdaq composite index fell 97.50 to 4,177.17, the Standard & Poor's 500 fell 16.75 to 1,493.74, and the Russell 2000 index fell 8.90 to 536.28. Decliners led advancers by a 3-to-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market. NYSE volume came to 909.55 million shares, just above yesterday's 904.28 million. The NYSE composite index fell 4.99 to 658.21 but the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 0.09 to end at 943.75.
The 10-year Treasury note's price fell 1/32 point, or 31 cents per $1,000 face amount; its yield held at 6.15 percent. The 30-year bond was unchanged from late yesterday's 5.91 percent.
Before the open, the Labor Department reported that consumer inflation jumped 0.6 percent in June, chiefly reflecting surging gasoline prices and a record rise in the cost of natural gas. Most other prices posted modest increases. (See story, page B-5.)
Merrill Lynch, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson led the morning parade of reports on second-quarter profits with better-than-expected results. Among other leading companies, Honeywell and Philip Morris matched most Wall Street profit forecasts. But Unisys tumbled 22 percent after the struggling computer systems company posted disappointing results.