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Nerves weigh on stocks
NEW YORK >> Investors left stocks in limbo today, making few moves while they awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony before Congress later this week. The major indexes ended narrowly lower after seesawing through the session, but more stocks gained than declined.
While a merger between NetScreen Technologies and Juniper Networks gave technology stocks some support, uncertainty over Greenspan's remarks, expected tomorrow and Thursday, could combine with the upcoming holiday weekend to keep institutional investors from taking large positions this week, said Michael Murphy, head trader at Wachovia Securities in Baltimore.
"I think there will be directionless trading with a lot of volatility until he talks, so that shoots almost the whole week," Murphy said. "Until then, it's more of the same."
Advancing issues were ahead of decliners by about 5 to 4 on the NYSE. Consolidated volume was light at 1.68 billion shares traded, compared with 1.89 billion on Friday.
The Dow Jones industrials fell 14.00, or 0.1 percent, to 10,579.03. The Dow moved within a narrow 54-point range yesterday.
Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Nasdaq lost 3.44, or 0.2 percent, to 2,060.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 2.95, or 0.3 percent, at 1,139.81. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was up 1.42, or 0.2 percent, at 585.49.
The price of the Treasury's 10-year note closed up 5/32 point, while its yield fell to 4.06 percent from 4.08 percent Friday. Two-year Treasury notes gained 1/32 point and yielded 1.73 percent, down from 1.75 percent Friday.
With the bulk of earnings season over and no major economic news released yesterday, the uneven start to the week was no surprise: Investors lacked guidance for their next moves. Wall Street also had little momentum behind it, given the erratic, and mostly lower, trading of the last few weeks.
"We started off the year on a pretty strong note and things got a little heated up and maybe a little too enthusiastic," said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist at Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Conn. "There's some consolidating, but most stocks are pushing higher today. There are strong underpinnings to the market."
Internet security hardware maker Netscreen Technologies Inc. shot up $9.54, or 36 percent, to $35.94, after agreeing to be acquired by Juniper Networks Inc. in a $3.5 billion stock swap. Juniper was off $3.29, or 11 percent, at $26.18.
Credit card issuer Providian Financial Corp. gained 55 cents to $13.69 as analysts and traders discussed the possibility of a takeover by Barclays, one of Britain's largest banks.
Electronic commerce company InterActiveCorp. closed $1.09 higher at $33.04 after beating estimates on strong sales for travel sites such as Hotels.com and Expedia, ticketing site Ticketmaster and online personals site Match.com, as well as its Home Shopping Network segment.
Hasbro Inc. gained 7 cents to $20.76 after announcing its fourth-quarter earnings were up 23 percent from a year earlier.
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