Nasdaq Leads on the Downside
A tech stock surge at the open was met with a boatload of selling as the
Nasdaq Composite Index
gave up its early gains and plunged 2%.
Meanwhile, the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was marginally higher and again in record territory.
The Nasdaq Comp was down 40 to 2468.
As was the case yesterday, cyclicals were powering the Dow. The Dow was up 66 to 10,477. The Dow's biggest boosts were coming from
DuPont
(DD) - Get Report
,
Goodyear
(GT) - Get Report
,
International Paper
(IP) - Get Report
and
3M
(MMM) - Get Report
.
The
S&P 500
was down 8 to 1320. The small-cap
Russell 2000
was down 3 to 414.
"I think the market got a little ahead of itself," said Louis Todd, head of equities trading at
J.C. Bradford
, as most of the major indices pulled back.
Looking ahead, expiration on Friday could have an effect on the market, said Todd.
Market participants have shunned -- at least so far -- a dosage of overall positive earnings reports.
General Motors
(GM) - Get Report
, the world's largest automaker, and
Ford
(F) - Get Report
both posted better-than-expected earnings. General Motors was down 1 5/8 to 88 1/8, while Ford rose 15/16 to 63 11/16.
Internet stocks were getting buried again today after plunging
yesterday.
Todd noted that the "interbet" traders, meaning day traders that largely play Internet stocks, got hammered yesterday, tried to get some of it back early in the session, but it looks like they might get their heads handed to them again today.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was down 46 to 648. Among the big losers in the index:
CMGI
(CMGI)
plunged 22 1/17, or 9%, to 223 1/2, while
RealNetworks
(RNWK) - Get Report
was down 20 3/8, or 11%, to 168 1/2.
TheStreet.com E-Commerce Index
was down 7 to 128.
The 30-year Treasury bond was down 6/32 to 96 2/32, yielding 5.52%.
Online brokers -- which have been market highfliers for some time -- were giving up some of their outsized gains, despite better-than-anticipated earnings from
AmeriTrade
(AMTD) - Get Report
and
Charles Schwab
(SCH)
. Both were down sharply, off 5% and 14%, respectively.
Shares of
Friedman Billings Ramsey Group
(FBG)
soared on news it launched
fbr.com
, which it calls "the first public online investment bank." Friedman Billings said that beginning immediately, online investors will have the chance to register to participate in all of the firm's future initial public offerings.
On the news, the Friedman Billings' stock surged 3 3/8, or 34%, to 13 3/16.
On the
New York Stock Exchange
, advancers were beating decliners 1,606 to 1,011 on 315 million shares. On the
Nasdaq Stock Market
, losers were edging winners 1,767 to 1,608 on 409 million shares.
On the NYSE, 41 issues had set new 52-week highs while 23 had touched new lows. On the Nasdaq, 39 issues had set new lows while new highs totaled 31.
On the Big Board,
America Online
(AOL)
was most active, with 19 million shares changing hands. It was down 8 13/16, or 6%, to 142 1/16.
On the Nasdaq,
Intel
(INTC) - Get Report
was most active, with 15 million shares changing hands. It was up 9/17 to 57 5/8.
10:03 a.m.: Stocks Little Changed Amid Mostly Positive Earnings Reports
Market participants digested a host of mostly positive earnings reports as the market's major averages were little changed.
The
Nasdaq Composite Index
was up 1 to 2509. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was up 4 to 10,416. The
S&P 500
was down 2 to 1326. The
Russell 2000
was down fractionally at 417.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was down 29 to 665.
TheStreet.com E-Commerce Index
was down 1 to 134.
The 30-year Treasury bond was down 9/32 to 95 31/32, yielding 5.53%.
Most Up at Open -- NYSE
BP Amoco (BPA) , up 3 1/8 to 103 1/4
.
Most Up at Open -- Nasdaq
AmeriTrade (AMTD) - Get Report, up 10 to 158
: The online broker after the close posted second-quarter earnings of 14 cents a share, double the
First Call
six-analyst consensus and up from a penny loss a year ago.
Most Down at Open -- NYSE
Equant (ENT) - Get Report, down 6 1/16 to 88 1/4
.
Most Down at Open -- Nasdaq
Inktomi (INKT) , down 8 to 129
: The company is slated to report earnings today.
TheStreet.com
wrote a preview of the report in a story
this morning.
