U.S. TRADING SUMMARY: U.S. stocks were sharply lower at midday on
Thursday amid a drop in technology stocks. Strength in one of the
Dow's largest technology issues, UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. (UTX:
115-15/16, + 3-15/16), could not keep the blue-chip index from
falling into negative territory. At 1:20 p.m. ET, the Dow was down
74 points at 9262. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index, meanwhile, was
down 20 points to 1236. United Technologies stood in contrast to
most technology issues, which were sharply lower. The Nasdaq
Composite tumbled over 63 points to stand at 2352. ''When some
stocks run up that quickly, when the enthusiasm it that high,
profit-taking is just normal,'' said Thom Brown, managing director
of Rutherford Brown and Catherwood. Declines led advances by a
2-to-1 margin on NYSE volume of 523 million shares. |
