Wait-and-See Dow Closes 17.08 Lower
The stock market fell today as traders pondered the uncertainties raised by the elections, the Persian Gulf crisis and an enormous sale of new U.S. Treasury debt.
The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials fell 17.08 to 2,485.15.
Declining issues outnumbered gainers by about 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 697 up, 769 down and 505 unchanged.
Big Board volume totaled 141.13 million shares, compared with 147.51 million in the previous session.
The market had posted a gain of 11.39 points Monday.
Analysts saw no real pattern in the trading.
“It’s uncertainty more than anything else,” said Sara Cerato, a vice president at Nomura Securities International Inc. “I’m hearing more rumors about war breaking out after the election.”
Some investment strategists are even starting to pick days that they believe will be the beginning of the war, she said.
Jack Solomon at Bear Stearns & Co. said traders were also nervously watching oil prices and waiting for the results of the quarterly government bond auction, which began today and will be completed Thursday.
The Treasury is selling a record $34.25 billion in 3-year, 10-year and 30-year debt securities.
“I don’t think the market’s fundamentals are getting any better. The trend is down rather than up,” said John McElroy, a principal at 1838 Investment Advisors.
In midafternoon trading on the NYSE, Browning Ferris was down 6 1/8 to 24 1/8 on a disappointing earnings report that came as a surprise to many analysts.
Waste Management was off 1 3/4 at 33 1/4 after announcing it will pay a court settlement of $19.5 million to avoid fighting civil price-fixing claims. Analysts were not sure whether the settlement was moving the stock.
Circuit City dropped 2 5/8 to 11 5/8 following the release of sales reports that were not as strong as analysts were hoping. Unisys fell 1/4 to 2 5/8 amid concern that it may have to sell assets at distressed prices.
U.S. Treasury bonds turned narrowly mixed in early trading today as dealers awaited the first portion of the refunding auction.
By midday, the government’s key 30-year issue was up 3/32 point, or 94 cents per $1,000 face amount. Its yield, which moves inversely to the price, fell to 8.61% from 8.62% late Monday.
