Stocks Remain Modestly Lower in Lackluster Trading
In a violently volatile week which began with fear and has shifted to sanguinity overall, the major market averages were taking a break so far today and were mostly lower at midmorning.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was down 54 to 10,673. The biggest drag on the Dow was
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
, which yesterday made an unsolicited bid valued at more than $62 billion, including debt, for
MediaOne
(UMG)
. This topped
Comcast's
(CMCSA) - Get Report
friendly $54 billion offer, which Comcast made last month.
TheStreet.com
wrote about the situation in a story
this morning.
AT&T was down 3 1/8, or 6%, to 53 5/8. Ma Bell was most active on the
New York Stock Exchange
with 18 million shares changing hands.
Meanwhile, MediaOne jumped 7, or 10%, to 76 1/2. Comcast was up 1 1/2 to 67 5/8.
The
S&P 500
was up 7 to 1352. The
Nasdaq Composite Index
was down 10 to 2552. The
Russell 2000
was down fractionally at 429.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was up 6 to 666.
Overall, "the climate's pretty good," for the market, said Peter Coolidge, managing director of trading at
Brean Murray Foster Securities
, citing in part solid earnings this quarter and continued merger-and-acquisition activity.
Coolidge said he's not looking for the market to do too much today.
The feeling is that this quarter has been the best in terms of upside earnings surprises in a while, Coolidge said.
One of this quarter's upside surprises was delivered by
IBM
(IBM) - Get Report
, which posted much better-than-expected results Wednesday after the close and powered the market sharply higher yesterday. Big Blue was padding its gains this morning, up 7/8 to 195 3/8.
On the earnings front today, drug titan
Merck
(MRK) - Get Report
reported first-quarter earnings of 54 cents a share, in line with the
First Call
30-analyst estimate and up from the year-ago 47 cents.
Merck was down 2 1/4 to 75 5/8. The
American Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical Index
was down 1%.
The 30-year Treasury bond was up 7/32 to 95 4/32, yielding 5.59%.
On the Big Board, decliners were beating advancers 1,381 to 1,089 on 227 million shares. On the
Nasdaq Stock Market
, winners and losers were tied at 1,5875 on 314 million shares.
On the NYSE, 27 issues had set new 52-week highs while 10 had touched new lows. On the Nasdaq, 34 issues had set new highs while new lows totaled 23.
On the Nasdaq,
Dell
(DELL) - Get Report
was most active, with 9 million shares changing hands. It was up 9/16 to 42 7/16.
9:56 a.m.: Stocks Take a Breather After Three Sessions of Gains
Stocks were softer early on, taking a break after three straight sessions of sizable gains.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was down 47 to 10,680.
The
S&P 500
was down 6 to 1353. The
Nasdaq Composite Index
was down 18 to 2544. The
Russell 2000
was down 1 to 428.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was down 6 to 654.
The 30-year Treasury bond was up 6/32 to 95 3/32, yielding 5.59%, in the wake of yesterday's selloff.
Most Up at Open -- NYSE
Vodafone (VOD) - Get Report, up 2 to 188 5/8
.
Most Up at Open -- Nasdaq
priceline.com (PCLN) , up 9 11/16 to 86 1/16
: Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of priceline.com, naming it to its recommended list.
Most Down at Open -- NYSE
America Online (AOL) , down 4 9/16 to 146 3/4
.
Most Down at Open -- Nasdaq
Knight/Trimark Group (NITE) , down 5 to 110
.
