Blue-chip stocks ended lower yesterday as the bulls pulled in their horns after pushing the market on Tuesday to its second-biggest point gain ever. The technology-laced Nasdaq hung on to a small gain.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 45.06 points, or almost 0.6 percent, to end at 7,782.37. But in the broader market, advancing issues led declines 18 to 12 on heavy volume of 895 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
The index of 30 leading stocks had been up more than 110 points during the session before computerized selling caused it to fall.
The decline came in the wake of Monday's historic rout that pared more than 6 per cent off the bluechip index and a recovery Tuesday of 3.82 per cent.
The Dow remains 16.66 per cent off its mid-July high and 1 per cent off for 1998.
On the bond market, the yield on the bellwether 30-year Treasury bond was nearly stable at 5.331 per cent from 5.330 per cent Tuesday.
The Nasdaq composite index was up 17.76 points, or 1.1 percent, at 1,592.85.
Investors are taking profits that might have been made today. In these volatile times it pays to have flexibility to start fresh tomorrow, said Mr Peter Coolidge, senior equity trader at Brean Murray & Co.
Nobody knows whether there will be a political or economic event that will shake the market, he said.
We are in an extremely delicate period. Negative news emanating from Asia and Russia could still rock the market. Among the big movers, Nine West Group fell 5-1/4 to 10-7/8 after it warned of lower-than-expected earnings in its current fiscal year due to weakness in the domestic and international retail footwear markets.
