Investors sit back
after stock run-up

NEW YORK » Stocks were mixed in quiet trading yesterday, with blue chip and tech shares rising only modestly despite lower oil prices and several mergers and acquisitions, including Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.'s $1.5 billion bid for several candy brands from Kraft Foods Inc.

The pullback in energy prices and pickup in M&A activity were encouraging to analysts, who were not distressed by the day's lackluster trading. After three solid weeks of gains, and in the absence of any new economic data, it's natural for investors to take a step back.

"People are trying to figure out what's next for the market," said Dean Junkans, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Client Services. "We've had a nice run, post-election ... I think people are looking for that year-end rally, and wondering whether we've already gotten a bunch of it or if we've got more to run. I think we've got more to run."

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 11.23, or 0.11 percent, at 10,550.24, after a gain of 1.46 percent last week.

The broader gauges were narrowly mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 0.36, or 0.03 percent, at 1,183.81, following a 1.54 percent rise. The Nasdaq composite added 8.75, or 0.42 percent, to 2,094.09, after a weekly gain of 2.28 percent.

The price of the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 1/32 point. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 4.19 percent from 4.18 percent late Friday. The 2-year note dropped 3Ú32 point to yield 2.87 percent, up from Friday's 2.82 percent.

Oil prices dropped, continuing a three-week trend that has taken crude futures down from their record $55-per-barrel level. Light, sweet crude for December delivery shed 52 cents to $46.87 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors were also weighing the resignations of four members of President Bush's cabinet following the election, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Including the latest resignations, six members of the president's 15-member Cabinet have announced plans to step down for his second term.

The day's news seemed to have little impact on trading, as institutional investors focused on technical levels after equities jumped 8 percent over the last three weeks. Still analysts noted that the market is entering a seasonally strong period, which may help keep stocks aloft through the end of the year.

"We're due to kind of settle in on a short-term basis," said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist at Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Conn.