Dow Dips 11 in Most Sluggish Trading of Year
The stock market declined broadly in listless trading Monday, bogged down by worries about inflation and interest rates.
The Dow Jones index of 30 industrials dropped 11.11 points to 1,941.48, its lowest close since it stood at 1,914.46 on Feb. 9.
Declining issues outnumbered advances by about 5 to 2 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange issues, with 424 up, 1,078 down and 470 unchanged.
Volume on Big Board came to 102.64 million shares, down from 120.60 million Friday and the smallest total since 86.36 million were traded in a post-Thanksgiving session last Nov. 27.
Consolidated volume in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks at regional exchanges and in the over-the counter market, totaled 121.18 million shares.
Interest rates, which have been climbing for several weeks, were mostly steady in the credit markets Monday.
Analysts blamed “a buyers strike” for the market’s exceptionally slow pace.
“It was more lethargy than anxiety,” said Alan Ackerman, analyst with Gruntal & Co. “Retail customers are all on the sidelines, and there is nothing out there to coax them back.”
But stock trading has been very slow for weeks, a phenomenon that has begun to worry brokerages and other businesses whose livelihood depends on buying and selling stocks for clients.
“There is absolute disinterest in this market,” said William Lefevre, an analyst with Advest Inc. The market’s lingering fears about inflation and interest rates have “strangled the buyers,” he said.
Analysts said there is no great fear of another market crash, but there is nothing to encourage investors either.
“Nothing seems to be happening of any real excitement to the market,” said Larry Greenwald, a trader at Sanford C. Bernstein.
The economy has shown accumulating strength of late, accompanied by some stirrings of inflation. That has fueled expectations on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will sooner or later feel compelled to tighten credit.
More signs of vigorous business activity are expected this week. The government is scheduled to report today on orders for durable goods in April.
And on Thursday, when a revised report is issued for the growth of the gross national product in the first quarter of the year, many analysts expect the figure to show a substantial increase from the 2.3% annual rate estimated earlier.
Texaco led the active list and fell 1 1/2 to 46 1/8 on reports that the company and financier Carl C. Icahn were close to agreeing on a plan under which Icahn would drop a threatened proxy fight for several seats on Texaco’s board.
Among other actively traded blue chips, Ford Motor dropped 3/4 to 46, General Electric dipped 5/8 to 39 7/8, International Business Machines eased 3/4 to 108 3/4 and American Telephone & Telegraph lost 3/8 to 26 3/8.
Arkansas Best rose 1/2 to 24 3/4. A group made up of two partnerships said it was willing to consider sweetening its bid to acquire the company.
Coated Sales tumbled 2 3/4 to 4 in the over-the-counter market. The company said it was investigating two transactions questioned by Peat Marwick Main & Co., which resigned as its independent auditing firm.
Large blocks of 10,000 or more shares traded on the NYSE totaled 1,992, compared to 2,360.
The NYSE’s composite index of all its listed common stocks dropped 1.09 to 142.21.
The Wilshire index of 5,000 equities closed at 2,506.936, down 19.210.
Standard & Poor’s industrial index fell 2.68 to 290.74, and S&P;’s 500-stock composite index was down 2.19 at 250.83.
The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market slumped 2.77 to 363.26. At the American Stock Exchange, the market-value index closed at 290.68, down 1.16.
In foreign trading, the Nikkei 225-share closed at 27,249.76, down 144.09, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday.
Share prices on the London Stock Exchange closed near their lows Monday after falling prey to the slipping Wall Street market.
At the close, the Financial Times 100-share index fell 8.9 to close at 1,761.3.
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