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NEW YORK -- News that Motorola plans to cut up to 4,000 additional jobs sent the stock market down sharply today as investors grew more pessimistic about the prospects of a quick turnaround for the economy and company earnings. Dow falls 99.10
Associated Press
Pharmaceutical and financial stocks advanced, but not enough to offset the broader downturn that began early in the session on reports that Dell Computer was also pondering layoffs. Analysts said Wall Street was again shifting away from technology to sectors viewed as less risky.
"The focus is on the near term. Are we going to go into a recession and who is going to warn next about bad earnings," said Robert Streed, portfolio manager at Northern Select Equity. "This is another excuse to take profits, especially on the technology side, where you had some significant gains last month."
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 99.10 at 10,781.45.
The weakness in tech stocks also pushed the Nasdaq composite index down 91.09 to 2,470.97, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 17.77 to 1,314.76. Decliners outnumbered advancers 17 to 13 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,660 down, 1,388 up and 219 unchanged. Volume was 1.06 billion shares vs. 1.09 billion yesterday. The NYSE composite index fell 4.48 to 653.28, the American Stock Exchange composite index lost 5.19 to 931.23 and the Russell 2000 index fell 5.84 to 497.05. The Treasury's 10-year note rose to 99 26/32; its yield fell 6 basis points to 5.02 percent. The 30-year bond rose 22/32 to 99 27/32; its yield fell 5 basis points to 5.39 percent.