Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
NEW YORK -- The market fell sharply again today on fears of poor corporate earnings, but a round of afternoon bargain hunting saved the Nasdaq composite index from closing at its lowest level this year. Dow off 110.61;
Nasdaq falls 72Associated Press
Blue chips also fell as part of a downturn that began after Lucent Technologies warned of disappointing third-quarter results. Even positive earnings reports from some of Wall Street's highest-profile companies failed to stanch the selloff.
The Nasdaq closed down 72.05 at 3,168.49. The index remained in negative territory, but well above its late morning level of 3,103.53 -- the lowest reading since this past November. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 110.61 at 10,413.79, a mild recovery from its 157.97-point drop earlier in the day. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 22.43 at 1,364.59. Decliners outnumbered advancers by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,981 down, 897 up and 447 unchanged. Volume was 1.38 billion shares compared with 1.04 billion yesterday.
The NYSE composite index fell 9.94 to 640.42, the American Stock Exchange composite index lost 6.87 to 915.55 and the Russell 2000 index was down 6.89 at 474.74.
"I wouldn't say we've hit bottom necessarily, but we've hit an extreme," said Chris Dickerson of Global Market Strategists in Gainesville, Ga. "We know the market is oversold. The question now is whether this is the bottom."
The Treasury's 10-year note was unchanged at 99 27/32; its yield held at 5.77 percent. The 30-year bond declined to 106; its yield rose 2 basis points to 5.82 percent.
After the close, Advanced Micro Devices reported earnings of 64 cents per share, beating forecasts by 2 cents. And Applied Micro Circuits posted profits of 26 cents, beating expectations by 3 cents. It also declared a 2-for-1 stock split.