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To: upanddown who wrote (60886)	2/24/2000 7:09:00 PM
From: Brian P.	Respond to of 95453

February 24, 2000 Dow Rebounds from Drop Below 10,000 as Nasdaq Hits Record By KENNETH N. GILPIN NYT Update, 6:50 p.m. Investor demand for technology stocks remained rabid today, and the buying pushed the Nasdaq composite index to yet another record. But blue-chip stocks suffered even as the Nasdaq gained. On four different occasions during the session the Dow Jones industrial average fell below the 10,000 level, but rebounded each time. It is the first time the blue-chip index has fallen below 10,000 since Oct. 18. The Dow has not closed below 10,000 since April 6. Continuing a pattern they said had been in place for some time, traders and analysts said investors were cashing out of blue chip securities today in order to buy high-flying technology shares. "There is tremendous pressure to perform" said Thomas M. O'Neill, chief investment officer at Fleet Boston Investment Advisors. "It's not so much that the Dow stocks have anything wrong with them," Robert Harrington, co-head of listed block trading at Paine Webber said. "It's just short-term, there is a better opportunity somewhere else." Trading was heavy. On the New York Stock Exchange 1.2 billion shares changed hands. Volume on the Nasdaq stock market was about 1.9 billion shares. For some time now, the perceived opportunity has been in the stocks that make up the Nasdaq composite index. Fueled by big gains in companies like JDS Uniphase, Nextel and Intel, the Nasdaq rose 67.32, or 1.5 percent, to 4617.65. It was the eleventh record close for the Nasdaq so far this year. However, the stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average had a tough time. By the close, the Dow had lost 133.10, or 1.3 percent, to 10,092.33. The decline would have been far more severe if not for a strong performance by Intel, which rose sharply after an analyst at Robertson Stephens issued an upbeat report on the company's first-quarter performance. Only seven of the thirty Dow stocks gained ground. Like the Dow, the Standard & Poor's 500 index gyrated in a fairly broad but falling range, and closed at 1353.43, down 7.26, or 0.5 percent. But it was a fairly good day for small company stocks. The Russell 2000 index, the best-performing market measure this year after the Nasdaq, gained 4.13, or 0.8 percent, to 554.04. Traders said the continuing divergence between market indexes is not a good sign. "The price action in areas of the market that includes utilities, banks and financials and drugs is getting close to dysfunctional," said Jonathon Olesky, head of block trading at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. "You are seeing stuff trade at almost any level. And it is not over."