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NEW YORK -- What looked like a promising day on Wall Street turned sour late in the session when skittish investors caused a technology rally to stall. Dow falls 41
Associated Press
Stocks closed mixed today, with the Nasdaq composite index up 47.36 at 2,645.29. The technology-heavy index had risen over 100 points early in the session, bouncing back from a selloff yesterday in which the index briefly traded below 2,524.31, the point at which it had lost 50 percent of its value since setting a closing high of 5,048.62 on March 10.
The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average also rose more than 100 points in early trading, but ended the session down 40.95 at 10,373.54. The Standard & Poor's 500, after struggling to stay in positive territory, closed up 0.28 at 1,315.23. Advancers beat decliners by a 2-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,894 up, 983 down and 418 unchanged. NYSE volume came to 1.2 billion shares, above yesterday's 1.1 billion. The NYSE composite index rose 1.71 to 631.49; the American Stock Exchange composite gained 6.70 to 853.38; and the Russell 2000 index closed up 10.90 at 456.84.
The 10-year Treasury note's price fell 9/32, or $2.81 per $1,000 face amount; its yield rose 4 basis points to 5.51 percent, near its lowest level since May 1999. The 30-year bond fell 13/32 as its yield rose 2 basis points to 5.63 percent.
The early bounce was caused by bargain hunters who were scouring the tech sector for values on beaten down stocks, said Alan Ackerman, executive vice president of Fahnestock & Co. But many traders apparently decided to bail out of the markets due to presidential election uncertainty.