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Stocks drift lower
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September 29, 1997: 10:00 a.m. ET
Blue chips, broader markets fall in early trading; bond prices weaken
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Wall Street stocks drifted lower at the opening bell Monday.
At 10 a.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was off 22.35 points to 7,899.83. On the Big Board, declines led advances, 1,201 to 881, as New York Stock Exchange volume topped 48 million shares.
A selloff in bonds helped weaken stocks. The 30-year Treasury bond lost 14/32 in price and the yield, which moves in the opposite direction of price, climbed to 6.39 percent.
Among the broader stock market indexes, the S&P 500 lost 2.96 to 942.26 and the Nasdaq Composite fell a slight 0.29 to 1,681.96.
Traders expected stocks and bonds to remain in a narrow range ahead of Tuesday's Federal Reserve policy meeting.
Looking at individual issues, shares of Aetna (AET) fell 5-3/4 to 84-3/4. The insurer warned that quarterly earnings will fall below Wall Street's forecast because of higher-than- expected costs associated with medical claims.
Elsewhere, Motorola (MOT) gained 3/16 to 68-11/16 after saying it won a $350 million contract to create a digital telephone network in Peru, while EP MedSystems (EPMD) added 3/8 to 3-1/4 on word it received federal clearance to be testing a device used to normalize irregular heart rhythm.
And dairy products maker Morningstar Group (MSTR) jumped 4-1/2 to 44-1/2 following its agreement to be acquired by Suiza Foods for $960 million. Shares of Suiza slipped 1/16 to 53-7/8.
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