NEW YORK >> Wall Street pulled back today as investors, reacting to a murky earnings forecast from Cisco Systems, sold off technology and some blue-chip shares. Dow pares losses
By Lisa Singhania
but Nasdaq slides
Associated PressAnalysts also attributed the decline to expected profit-taking from April's big advance, as well as the lack of any compelling reason to buy.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 17.05 at 10,866.46, coming back from an 80-plus point deficit earlier in the session. The index has closed lower five of the last six sessions.
The loss was more pronounced in the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index, which dropped 42.51 to 2,156.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 5.72 to 1,255.48.
Advancers led decliners 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,603 up, 1,418 down and 258 unchanged. Volume was 1.04 billion shares vs. 990.38 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite index fell 0.22 to 636.29, the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 5.68 to 942.70 and the Russell 2000 index dropped 1.59 to 490.18. The Treasury's 10-year note rose 19/32 to 98 3/4; its yield fell 8 basis points to 5.16 percent. The 30-year bond jumped 1 2/32 to 95 29/32; its yield fell 8 basis points to 5.66 percent.
Trading was choppy as investors unloaded stocks to lock in profits from the recent run-ups in technology and other sectors, but hesitated to make any bigger moves.
"The fundamental outlook remains murky, the outlook for second-quarter earnings remains murky. The cup's half-full because the market's holding, but those who say the cup's half-empty wonder what's going to drive the market higher?" said Larry Wachtel, market analyst at Prudential Securities. "You have a stalemate here."
Much of the selling appeared related to Cisco, which reported earnings slightly ahead of reduced expectations late yesterday but failed to indicate if and when a turnaround might occur.