NEW YORK (CNNfn) - After four days of heavy losses and severe volatility, Wall Street briefly attempted to start Friday on the upside as investors sought comfort in rising overseas markets, a somewhat more stable dollar, and a late bounce at the end of the previous day's market session.
But many market players remained nervous about the future of the global economy and the direction of world's markets, and the early gains soon turned to losses.
Shortly after 10 a.m. the Dow Jones industrial average fell 33.21 points to 7,698.70. Advances led declines 1,353 to 1,164 as 161 million shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Nasdaq Composite, which lost more than 12 percent in the first four days of the week, surged more than 30 points in the first minutes of trading, but later cut its gains to 19.81, or 1.2 percent, to 1,438.93. The S&P 500 index fell 1.04 to 958.40.
The bond market once again was mixed. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond plummeted 2-5/32 points in price, raising the yield to 5.13 percent. But the short-end of the market, Treasury securities maturing in less than 2 years, traded in positive territory, still attracting investors seeking quality amid the stock market's volatility.
The dollar fell against the Japanese yen as investors saw no sign that central banks might intervene in the market to boost the greenback. The dollar traded slightly higher against the German mark.
Once the leaders, always the leaders
In stocks, technology blue chips, the most volatile and hardest hit market sector in this week's tumultuous run, were the leaders on the upside as investors sought bargains among these cheapened stocks.
On the Nasdaq, shares of Dell Computer (DELL) rallied 2-11/16 to 51-1/8, Intel (INTC) gained 1-13/16 to 80-1/4, Microsoft (MSFT) jumped 2-1/16 to 93-1/4 and Cisco Systems (CSCO) climbed 2-13/16 to 49-1/2.
Among Big Board technology blue chips, Dow component IBM (IBM) rose 15/16 to 124-7/16.
But financial stocks, whose late rally was largely responsible for the Dow's last-hour recovery from a 270-point tumble Thursday, put in a mixed show.
Shares of Dow member Citigroup (CCI), the day-old union of Citicorp and Travelers, rose 1/2 to 33. Fellow Dow member J.P. Morgan (JPM) fell 1/4 to 79-5/8 and American Express (AXP) lost 5/8 to 71-3/4.
Shares of Chase Manhattan (CMB) fell 5/16 to 40-3/8, BankAmerica (BAC) eased 13/16 to 48-13/16 and Bankers Trust (BT) climbed 1 to 55-1/2.
In the brokerage niche, Merrill Lynch (MER) rallied 1-5/8 to 44-1/8 and Lehman Brothers (LEH) rose 1-5/16 to 30-3/4.
Among the day's newsmakers, shares of the country's number one provider of medical supplies to hospitals, Allegiance (AEH), rallied 8-1/4, or almost 36 percent, to 31-1/4 on news Cardinal Health (CAH) is buying the company in a stock deal valued at $4.5 billion. Cardinal's stock tumbled 7-3/16 to 85-1/2.
Investors' reception to the day's other deal was less warm. Shares of computer management firm Inacom (ICO) lost 1-1/16, or more than 6 percent, to 15-3/4 and Vanstar (VST), a computer reseller and consultant, slipped 7/8, or more than 10 percent, to 7-1/2. Inacom has agreed to buy Vanstar in a deal that would create a company with $7 billion in revenue and a workforce of more than 12,000. 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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