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NEW YORK -- While a welcome assessment of the nation's economic health sent blue chip stocks rising today, investors again punished technology issues for their bleak earnings prospects. Dow soars 121.5
Associated Press
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 121.53, or 1.2 percent, to 10,629.11, but the Nasdaq composite index fell 27.83, or 1 percent, to 2,707.15. The Nasdaq's decline gave it yet another new low for this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 5.84 to 1,341.93. Advancers beat decliners by a 15-to-14 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,465 up, 1,396 down and 451 unchanged. NYSE volume came to 1.10 billion shares, up from yesterday's 1.02 billion. The NYSE composite gained 3.09 to 637.42; the American Stock Exchang index sank 11.41 to 862.27; and the Russell 2000 index fell 4.42 to 454.60.
The 10-year Treasury note's price rose 13/32 point, or $4.06 per $1,000 in face value, as its yield fell 5.53 percent down from late yesterday's 5.58 percent. The 30-year bonds were down 14/32 point and yielded 5.65 percent, down from 5.68 percent late yesterday.
Despite the decline in tech stocks, investors traded with cautious optimism on new evidence that the nation's economic growth is slowing, analysts said. The Commerce Department said today the gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2.4 percent last summer, the slowest rate in four years . Wall Street considered the report good news, because the slowdown could be an incentive for the Federal Reserve to declare at its Dec. 19 meeting that inflation is less of a risk to the economy. That could be a precursor of lower interest rates.