Blue-Chips Meander, Techs Jump as Greenspan Equivocates

Alan Greenspan speaks with a forked tongue. Maybe that's a harsh (and possibly illegal?) thing to say about the chairman of the Federal Reserve, but Greenspan does have an "on the one hand, one the other hand" way of speaking. Today, various market sectors responded very differently to his Humphrey-Hawkins testimony.

Major Indices INDEX CHANGE % VALUE YR TO DATE Dow 8.26 -0.1% 9544.42 +3.9% S&P 500 0.96 -0.1% 1271.18 +3.4% Nasdaq 34.34 +1.5% 2376.35 +8.4% Russell 2000 1.19 +0.3% 399.01 -5.4% TSC Internet 23.55 +4.8% 514.53 +26.6% TSC E-Commerce 0.18 -0.2% 97.71 +14.8% TREASURY BOND CHANGE VALUE YIELD 30-Year 31/32 97 16/32 5.420%

The bond market tumbled, focusing on Greenspan's hints that the Fed's third rate cut last fall may have been overkill, and on his somewhat rote concerns about the possibility of inflation's reemergence (the economy "appears stretched in a number of dimensions"). The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 31/32 to 97 16/32, its yield rising to 5.42%. ...