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Friday, Jul. 10, 1998
Nasdaq posts another record, but Dow, most stocks, decline
Motorola's turnaround plan fails to impress investors
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Technology shares led the Nasdaq market to another record, but most stocks fell Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 85.19 to 9,089.78, nearly wiping out Wednesday's 89-point climb to the highest level since the index peaked at 9,211.84 on May 13.
Motorola Inc.'s promised turnaround plan, combining its vast communications businesses into one division, failed to impress Wall Street on Thursday and held few details about how it would be accomplished.
Motorola's shares barely budged after the announcement, finishing 6 cents higher Thursday at $52.25 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.
Motorola's reorganization plan, as had been rumored since April, calls for creating a new division that will include its technology development, pager, cellular phone, satellites and wireless network equipment businesses.
DuPont sank 7 points - or the equivalent of 28 Dow points - to 70 1/8 after the biochemical company advised that its second-quarter results won't meet Wall Street forecasts. DuPont said second-quarter earnings will be 10 percent to 15 percent lower than a year ago.
The market made ``a substantial run in a short period of time and was a little overbought,'' said Bill Meehan, chief market analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.
``The S&P 500 has gained better than 8 percent since June 15,'' when the market bottomed, he said, asserting that DuPont was also ripe for some profit-taking. ``We're not talking about stock that has been lying around and languishing. DuPont was in the low 50s when we began the year.''
Most broad-market indicators also surrendered a chunk of Wednesday's gain, but the Nasdaq composite index rose 4.43 to 1,939.82, setting a new high for a second straight day.
The Standard & Poor's 500, which on Wednesday closed at a record high for the sixth time in 10 sessions, fell 7.82 to 1,158.56. The Nasdaq composite index rose 4.43 to 1,939.82.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 7-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where composite volume totaled 794.86 million shares, up from 732.20 million on Wednesday.
The NYSE composite index fell 4.12 from Wednesday's closing record, finishing at 590.23.
The American Stock Exchange composite index fell 0.74 to 727.91. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 0.03 to 460.00.
Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average fell 0.5 percent, Frankfurt's DAX index fell 0.4 percent and London's FT-SE 100 fell 0.7 percent.Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web