Late rally lifts
Dow; Nasdaq falls 52

Associated Press

NEW YORK >> Caution and profit-taking made for uncertain and ultimately uneventful trading today as Wall Street awaited the rush of earnings reports expected this week and next.

But selling was expected to intensify tomorrow after Cisco Systems issued a late-day earnings warning and job-cut announcement.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 31.62 at 10,158.56 on a late rally after fluctuating in light trading.

Technology losses in regular trading pulled the Nasdaq composite index down 51.86 to 1,909.57, ending its four-session winning streak. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 3.82 to 1,179.68.

Decliners narrowly led advancers nearly 4 to 3 the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,737 down, 1,318 up and 218 unchanged. Volume was 1.04 billion.

The NYSE composite index rose 0.58 to 602.32, the American Stock Exchange composite index gained 5.79 to 889.69 and the Russell 2000 index slipped 4.12 to 450.90.

The Treasury's 10-year note was down 23/32 to 98 1/32; its yield rose 10 basis points to 5.26 percent. The 30-year bond fell 16/32 to 95 17/32; its yield rose 9 basis points to 5.69 percent.

Trading was tentative while Wall Street nervously waited to see whether earnings would be weaker than expected -- a possible indication that an economic turnaround might be delayed.

Cisco, although it did not yet release its quarterly earnings, realized some of the market's fears, announcing that its results this year would be even lower than expected. The networking company also said it was cutting 8,500 jobs.

Cisco fell 78 cents to $17.20 in regular trading and in after-hours trading was down $7 percent, or $1.20, to $16.

The tech sector fell during the regular session as Morgan Stanley cut its ratings on several big companies, including Intel. The chip maker dropped $2.45 to $25.67, while Microsoft fell $1.90 to $60.28. Both stocks are Dow components.

"Some of this is also profit-taking," said Jack Shaugnessy, chief investment strategist at Advest Inc.

"We had a very strong week last week. And since people still don't have confidence about tech stocks' future growth, the tendency to take profits is very strong."