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Bearish Intel hurts techs
NEW YORK >> Stocks fell modestly yesterday after bearish comments from Intel and a profit warning from Pier One Imports offset strong earnings from CVS and ConocoPhillips. But many investors simply sat out the session, waiting for gross domestic product and employment data due out later this week.
"The stock market, having rallied from March 11 to June is range-bound, waiting for something to turn it on," said Larry Wachtel, market analyst at Prudential Securities. "The only thing that can turn the market on is if some of these numbers come in better than expected."
And, while second-quarter earnings reports have mostly managed to beat Wall Street's expectations, stocks again pulled back in response to companies' discouraging outlooks for the future.
"The market has been looking at earnings news, which has continued to be constructive but muted in terms of guidance going forward. That raises questions like: Did we go too far, too fast?" from the March lows, said Jack Caffrey, equities strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers about 5 to 4 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was light at 1.70 billion shares, below Tuesday's 1.85 billion.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 4.41, or 0.1 percent, at 9,200.05, having forfeited 80.11 in the previous two sessions.
The broader market also finished slightly lower. The Nasdaq composite index fell 10.46, or 0.6 percent, to 1,720.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 1.79, or 0.2 percent, to 987.49. The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, fell 0.80, or 0.2 percent, to 472.80.
The price of the Treasury's 10-year note closed up 31/32 point, while its yield fell to 4.31 percent from 4.46 percent Tuesday. Two-year Treasury notes were up 1/8 point and yielded 1.63 percent, down from 1.72 percent Tuesday.
Analysts said investors were putting off any big moves ahead of major economic reports due out -- the Commerce Department's report on gross domestic product today, and the Labor Department's employment report tomorrow.
Intel fell 41 cents to $24.49. The chipmaker's chief executive Craig Barrett said corporate information technology spending in established economies remains sluggish, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Profit warnings also weighed on Wall Street. Pier One Imports dropped $1.85 to $18.10 after cutting its fiscal second-quarter earnings estimate.
Airline stocks fell after President Bush said in a wide-ranging news conference that the nation's airlines face "real threat" of more terrorist attacks. AMR, the parent of American Airlines, declined 81 cents to $9.05.
Among the market's gainers, drug store company CVS climbed $1.20 to $28.95 after posting second-quarter profits that beat Wall Street's estimates by a penny a share.
ConocoPhillips inched up 5 cents to $52 on quarterly earnings that topped analysts' expectations by 15 cents a share.
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