NEW YORK >> Stocks fell back today as investors, wary about the economy and awaiting the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, collected profits after Wall Street's two-day advance. Stocks sink again amid
growing retaliation fears
By Lisa Singhania
Associated PressAnalysts said the retreat was to be expected, given the week's earlier gains and the economy's ongoing troubles.
"Obviously we've had some slippage, but if we compare where we are today to where we were last week ... this isn't a significant selloff," said Michael Strauss, managing director at Commonfund. "The market is trying to bottom. The economy continues to be the battleground and we're getting some weakness associated with the terrorist attacks."
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 92.58 to 8,567.39, giving back nearly a quarter of its 424-point advance of Monday and yesterday.
The Nasdaq composite index slid 37.60 to 1,464.04, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 5.23 at 1,007.04.
Decliners narrowly led advancers 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was heavy at 1.6 billion shares.
The NYSE composite index lost 1.43 to 524.56, the American Stock Exchange composite index gained 5.74 to 786.20 and the Russell 2000 index fell 6.40 to 389.78.
The Treasury's 2-year note rose 2/32 to 101 - 17/32; its yield fell 4 basis points to 2.80 percent. The 10-year note gained 14/32 to 102 - 25/32; is yield fell 5 basis points to 4.64 percent. The 30-year bond jumped 7/8 to 98 - 1/8; its yield fell 6 basis points to 5.50 percent.
Many on Wall Street are hesitant to make any big commitments until they have a better idea of the form and timing of U.S. retaliation for the assaults on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.
No trader wants to be caught with a significant holding of a particular stock going into the weekend for fear that political events could upset the stock's value.
"You don't know what might happen Saturday, if that might be when retaliation or something happens, and how that will affect the market," said Chris Wolfe, equity market strategist for J.P. Morgan Private Bank. "So you don't want to take many chances."
Those concerns, as well as profit-taking from Monday's big rally that sent the Dow up 368 points, appeared to drive much of today's trading.
In the tech sector, IBM dropped $3.15 to $91.30 and Sun Microsystems fell 25 cents to $8.44 -- a loss of about 3 percent for each stock -- after Goldman Sachs cut their earnings estimates on fears that companies will have less to spend on both firms' products as they recover from the assaults.
Light buying was concentrated in sectors considered less risky in times of uncertainty, including pharmaceuticals and consumer goods. Johnson & Johnson rose $1.18 to $54.12, while Procter & Gamble climbed 13 cents to $71.12.
Market watchers also attributed some of the selling to the usual end-of-quarter trading by fund managers seeking to even out their portfolios. The third quarter ends Sunday.
Elsewhere, OPEC delegates broke off informal talks in Vienna, Austria, today without agreeing whether the oil producers' cartel should adjust output. Representatives of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries delayed a formal meeting on the group's production and pricing policy until tomorrow morning. In spite of the delay, indications were strong that the cartel would decide to leave its existing levels of oil production unchanged.