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NEW YORK -- Stock prices failed to rebound today as investors concerned about third-quarter results again punished the shares of poor performers. Dow slips 2.96
Associated Press
But the decline could have been much worse. Bargain hunting in the last hour of trading helped battered issues stage a mild recovery, allowing the Dow Jones industrial average to almost break even and limiting the size of the Nasdaq composite index's drop.
The Dow closed down 2.96 at 10,628.36 after dropping as much as 40 points during the day. It fell 176 points yesterday. The Nasdaq lost 32.80 to 3,656.30 after spiking into positive territory earlier in the day. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.64 to 1,426.57.
Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 6-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,496 up, 1,331 down and 486 unchanged. Volume was 1.17 billion shares vs. 1.1 billion yesterday. The NYSE composite index rose 1.22 to 656.05, the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 0.02 to 928.43 and the Russell 2000 index was down 1.76 at 508.13. The Treasury's 10-year note fell to 99 1/2; its yield rose 2 basis points to 5.82 percent. The 30-year bond fell 21/32 to 104 28/32; its yield rose 5 basis points to 5.90 percent.
"You did see some bargain hunting for some of these beat-up tech stocks and that perhaps is one reason why you saw the Nasdaq and Dow come back," said Dick Dickson, a technical analyst at Scott & Stringfellow Inc. "But by and large, investors are more on the sell side. When a stock comes down or a company warns, they sell it." Intel rose 56 cents to $43.88 to reverse a slide that began with its sales warning.