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Thursday, Sep. 3, 1998
Dow slips by 45 after early rise
Investors see rebound as time to jump ship
By BRUCE MEYERSON
Associated PressNEW YORK -- Stocks slid into the close Wednesday as investors used a sharp rebound from Monday's selling spree as an opportunity to pull some money out of the market.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 125 points Wednesday afternoon -- bobbing back above its starting point for the year -- before a late selloff left it down 45.06 on the day at 7,782.37. The Dow failed to build on Tuesday's 288-point rebound from the previous day's 512-point plunge.
The broad market also faltered as another volatile session drew to a close, although some measures managed to escape with modest gains.
With investors still smarting from Monday's plunge, analysts said it wasn't surprising to see investors try to protect themselves from another potential selloff.
``It feeds on itself. As the gain starts to be given back, that urge to take quick profits gets greater and greater,'' said Richard A. Dickson, a technical analyst at Scott & Stringfellow in Richmond, Va. He noted that the market behaved similarly after the crash of 1987, but also asserted that ``it doesn't mean we're going straight back down again.''
The Dow, which fell as low as 7,400 on Tuesday before staging a rally, is now showing a 1.6 percent loss for the year and sits 16.7 percent below the July 17 record of 9,337.97. At that peak, the Dow was up 18.1 percent for 1998.
There were still signs that the continuing economic crisis in Asia is hurting exports.
``The same things that were concerning the market Monday are still here,'' said Charles White, portfolio manager at Avatar Associates in New York, referring to worries about Asia's and Russia's economic woes. ``There's no reason that this market should begin to make an assault at new highs after reaching the lows we reached on Monday.''
In Moscow, President Clinton sought to reassure investors during a news conference with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
``The volatility in the world markets, including in our stock market, I think is to be expected under these circumstances,'' Clinton said. ``The right thing to do is to try to restore growth in the economies of the world where there isn't enough growth.''
The Nasdaq composite index, which tumbled 140 points on Monday and rebounded by 75 on Tuesday, rose 17.76 to 1,592.85 as the battered technology group held some of its gains.
But the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, which is dominated by major companies like the 30 that make up the Dow, finished 3.79 lower at 990.47.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3-to-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where trading slowed considerably from Tuesday's blistering pace. About 1.059 billion shares of NYSE-listed companies changed hands, down from a record 1.424 billion on Tuesday.
The recent game of global financial tag continued with foreign markets getting a lift from Tuesday's rally in the United States and setting the stage for Wednesday's strong start on Wall Street.
Blue-chip stocks rose on the biggest European stock markets following gains in Asia. Tokyo's Nikkei average rose 0.05 percent, and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 4.2 percent. In Europe, London's Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index rose 1.3 percent, Frankfurt's DAX index rose 1.9 percent and CAC-40 index in Paris rose 2.3 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