One of the AZW's and his buttboy AZW wannabe polluted my NYT this morning. Sure glad Bill M.'s name wasn't in this piece. I don't remember Ralphie calling for jack sh*t!
>>NEW YORK -- Stock prices staged a broad, steep selloff Monday, led by big declines in Internet and technology issues.
It was the third consecutive decline for stocks, and some analysts said the market, which has charged ahead for much of the year, might be in the midst of a correction.
"I have said all along the market could correct anywhere from 5 percent to 10 percent at any time," said Ralph Acampora, chief technical analyst at Prudential Securities (and an SI AZW). "The market is about 5 percent off its high, but this is not over with. We could drop another 4 to 5 percent from here."
Analysts and traders struggled to explain Monday's declines. There was no economic news, and the bond market, which has been in turmoil lately, was quiet. Trading activity was fairly light. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 754.7 million shares. On the NASDAQ market, nearly 920 million shares changed hands.
"It's ugly, and it's surprising to me," said Bill Allyn, head of listed trading at Jefferies & Co. "It's been a take-no-prisoners kind of day. I think this is aberrational activity and that the market will be back."
By the close of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 174.61 points, or 1.6 percent, to 10,654.67.
Broader market averages were hit even harder.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 23.64, or 1.8 percent, to 1,306.65. The NASDAQ composite index suffered its biggest loss in five weeks, falling 66.48, or 2.6 percent, to 2,453.66. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks dropped 8.75 points, or 2 percent, to 440.39. And TheStreet.com's Internet stock index tumbled 46.70, or 7.5 percent, to 576.68.
Michael Mayo, a bank stock analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston, contributed to the negative tone.
Before the market opened, Mayo cut his ratings on several big money-center banks to "sell" from "hold" on concern their profits might suffer in part from problems related to Year 2000 computer problems. His comments ignited a selloff that spread throughout the financial services sector of the market. By the close of trading, the Standard & Poor's financial stock index had fallen 2.2 percent.
And Acampora may have added fuel to the fire when he suggested that five big Internet stocks, including America Online, Excite and Yahoo, were vulnerable if the stocks fell through certain price support levels.
"The talk about the banks put some pressure on some of the sacred cows that have helped move the market up," said Al Goldman, chief market analyst at A.G. Edwards Inc. "It also conjured up some latent fear that had been in the woodwork about Y2K. But the economy didn't go from good to bad over the weekend."
IBM and Hewlett-Packard were the biggest losers among the Dow stocks.
IBM fell 6 5/8, to 223 3/4. And Hewlett-Packard lost 3 7/8, to 90.
Among financial stocks, Citigroup fell 2 11/16, to 65 1/8. Chase Manhattan lost 3 1/16, to 75 7/8. American Express slumped 3 7/16, to 116 13/16. And Merrill Lynch dropped 4 3/16, to 70 15/16.
America Online was among the biggest losers of the stocks that make up the S&P 500. The stock fell 6 15/16, to 119 1/2.
Meanwhile, Yahoo plummeted 13 7/16, to 137 7/8. Excite fell 14 7/8, to 118 1/16. Cisco Systems, another component of the S&P 500 and the leading maker of Internet equipment, fell 3 7/8, to 109 3/8. And Priceline.com fell 13 19/32, to 125 11/32.
Airline and drug stocks also fell.
UAL, the parent of United Airlines, fell 2 1/4, to 72 1/8. AMR, parent of American Airlines, declined 2 3/16, to 64 3/16. And Delta Airlines dropped 2 1/2, to 58.
Among big drug stocks, Warner-Lambert fell 3, to 63 7/8. Bristol-Myers Squibb shed 2 3/4, to 65 3/16. And Pfizer dropped 4, to 106 1/4.
Utility stocks, often used as a haven when conditions are unsettled in other sectors, were one of the market's few bright spots Monday.
The Dow Jones Utilities average gained 2.28 points, to 327.43, its fourth straight record.
Peco Energy rose 1 1/2, to 50; Consolidated Natural Gas rose 11/16, to 58 1/2, and Duke Energy climbed 1 1/4, to 59 3/8.
In other developments, Avis Rent a Car, the nation's second-largest car rental company behind Hertz, fell 7 3/8, to 28, after it agreed to buy Cendant's fleet operations. Cendant rose 11/16, to 19 7/8.<<
|
