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Earnings worries
send stocks lower
NEW YORK >> Stock prices retreated yesterday as investors, worried that fourth-quarter earnings might not meet heightened expectations, decided to cash in some of their recent profits.
Analysts said the selling reflected concerns about whether upcoming earnings reports would justify the market's recent surge. The anxiety overshadowed Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's comments that the weakening U.S. dollar and disappointing jobs data were not barriers to the economic recovery.
"We're in earnings season so that's completely dominating what most market watchers are looking at," said Brian Bruce, director of global investments, PanAgora Asset Management Inc. in Boston. "They want to see no disappointments."
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 58.00, or 0.6 percent, at 10,427.18.
Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 6.01, or 0.5 percent, to close at 1,121.22, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 15.34, or 0.7 percent, to 2,096.44.
Declining issues led advancers nearly 5 to 4 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to 1.55 billion shares, up from 1.47 billion in Monday's session.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies closed down 1.85, or 0.3 percent, at 581.16.
The NYSE composite index lost 34.23, or 0.5 percent, to 6,509.45. The American Stock Exchange composite index slipped .28, or .02 percent, to 1,202.05.
The Treasury's two-year note rose 432 to 100 1832, with its yield falling 7 basis points to 1.58 percent. The 10-year note gained 1932 to 101 2932, with its yield dropping 8 basis points to 4.01 percent.
Trading has been uneven so far this week as the market waits for earnings news.
Intel Corp.'s earnings report, due out today, was anxiously awaited by investors looking for signs that the upswing in technology stocks is sustainable. The Nasdaq composite index, which has a large technology component, has been trading at levels not seen in two years, and not everyone is convinced that the valuations are warranted.
"If Intel has a hiccup, it could burst this whole bubble on tech, at which point the whole rally could fall off," said Bill Groenfeld, head trader for vFinance Investments. "If it does well, then we can reassess where we are and we can take off again."
Intel ended off 56 cents at $33.59 in selling that extended to other tech stocks. Yahoo! Inc. lost 94 cents to close at $48.80.
Wall Street's anxiety was heightened by mixed earnings reports in the banking sector. Shares of BB&T Corp. closed down $1.16 at $36.63 after the North Carolina bank reported fourth-quarter earnings in line with expectations, but warned that profit growth in 2004 would be slower because of soft demand for commercial loans.
Investors also sent AmSouth Bancorp lower despite earnings that met expectations. The stock dropped 24 cents to $24.30.
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