Star-Bulletin news services
Mixed housing report
puts damper on stocks
NEW YORK >> Wall Street drifted lower yesterday after a mixed housing report and a disappointing outlook from DuPont gave investors incentives to cash in profits after the previous session's big advance.
Analysts said many investors were taking a wait-and-see attitude before the upcoming earnings period. Trading also was choppy due to technical factors in advance of tomorrow's quadruple-witching day, the quarterly expiration of index futures and options as well as individual stock futures and options.
"There's not much driving the market in either direction today," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp. "It's a quiet period before an important period -- the third-quarter announcement season" later this month.
Analysts also said many investors might have been preoccupied with the mounting criticism of New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso and his pay package, leading to lighter trading. Grasso resigned after the market closed.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 21.69, or 0.2 percent, at 9,545.65, having gained 118 points on Tuesday.
The Nasdaq composite index declined 4.15, or 0.2 percent, to 1,883.10. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.35, or 0.3 percent, to 1,025.97.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers 7 to 6 on the NYSE. Consolidated volume was light at 1.72 billion shares, compared with 1.81 billion traded Tuesday.
The Russell 2000 index fell 0.56, or 0.1 percent, to 515.10.
The NYSE composite index fell 13.09, or 0.2 percent, to 5,787.09. The American Stock Exchange composite index gained 5.31, or 0.5 percent, to 988.67.
The two-year Treasury note slipped 1/32 to 100 2432, with its yield rising to 1.61 percent. The 10-year note gained 2532 to 100 1832, with its yield dropping to 4.18 percent.
The Commerce Department reported yesterday that builders started work on 1.82 million housing units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate last month. Analysts were predicting a level of 1.89 million units.
Decliners included DuPont, which dropped $1.50 to $42.47, after the company said its 2003 earnings would be at the lower end of estimates.
Energy stocks also took a hit after crude oil prices dropped to a four-month low. Exxon Mobil Corp. decreased 87 cents to $36.84, while ChevronTexaco Corp. declined 73 cents to $72.27.
Best Buy Co. fell $1.18 to $51.48 although the electronics retailer reported earnings that met expectations.
But Altria Group Inc. climbed $4.19, or 10.4 percent, to $44.65 after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that a lower court must reinstate a reduced $6 billion bond required for its tobacco unit Philip Morris to appeal a legal defeat. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco jumped $4.67, or 13.7 percent, to $38.86, after the second largest cigarette maker said it will cut about 2,600 jobs, or 40 percent of its work force.
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