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Small retreat for stocks
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July 19, 1999: 5:02 p.m. ET
Despite mostly strong earnings reports, investors choose to take profits
By Staff Writers Malina Poshtova Zang and Robert Scott Martin
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street suffered losses Monday as investors cashed in on some of the market's record gains from last week, ignoring a steady stream of strong corporate earnings reports.
The Dow Jones industrial average shed 22.16 points to 11,187.68. On the New York Stock Exchange, declines led advances 1,716 to 1,158 as 641 million shares changed hands.
The Nasdaq composite index lost 34.19 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,830.29 and the S&P 500 index dropped 11.13 to 1,407.65.
The bond market, meanwhile, was stuck near unchanged levels amid a dearth of economic data or other market-moving news. The bellwether 30-year Treasury bond ended the day flat in price for a yield of 5.89 percent.
The dollar skidded more than two full yen and tumbled against the euro. The Japanese currency continued to climb over the weekend and early Monday as an eagerly anticipated intervention by the Bank of Japan failed to occur.
Earnings in the spotlight
In the stock market, investors remained enthralled by the latest news about corporate bottom lines in the second quarter, but wider profit taking in cyclical manufacturing and resource stocks kept the overall stock market subdued.
Dow component IBM (IBM) fell 1-5/8 to 134-5/8 even amid expectations that the world's leading computer maker would deliver a positive surprise when it reported its latest earnings after the closing bell. Minutes after the market closed, Big Blue reported earnings of 91 cents per share in the second quarter, compared to consensus estimates of 88 cents per share.
Fellow Dow technology company Hewlett Packard (HWP) defied its fellow computing blue chip by surging 2-1/4 to 116-1/4. HP Monday morning picked Carleton Fiorina, dubbed by one magazine as the "most powerful woman in American business," as its new chief executive and president.
Investors were hesitant to buy into Pfizer (PFE), however, sending shares down 13/16 to 37 even though the pharmaceutical firm beat per-share earnings estimates by a penny. Instead, Wall Street focused on news that the company had agreed to pay a $20 million fine and plead guilty to federal antitrust violations.
Stronger than expected earnings from Delta Air Lines (DAL) gave the transportation sector a strong lift, pushing the Dow transports up 61.97 points, or 1.8 percent, to 3,463.84. Delta shares climbed 3-1/8 to 62-3/16, while non-Dow airline Continental (CAL), which also beat forecasts with its earnings, leapt 2-7/8 to 41-7/16.
Finance shares mixed
Among the day's other standouts, shares of Dow component Citigroup (C) edged 3/16 higher to 49-3/16 after the company said it earned 71 cents in the second quarter, well above the 65 cents Wall Street had bet on.
Shares of fellow Dow financial member J.P. Morgan (JPM) rose 5/8 to 138 after the investment bank and brokerage reported second-quarter earnings of $2.52 a share, up sharply from projections of $2.24 a share.
However, shares of the largest U.S. bank, Bank of America (BAC), lost 1-1/2 to 74 in the wake of its own second-quarter profits, which beat estimates by 2 cents per share.
A warning that operating losses are likely to continue for online brokerage E*Trade (EGRP) drove shares of that company down 2-13/16 to 34-11/16 and discouraged buyers from other e-broker stocks. Ameritrade (AMTD) shares lost 2-1/2 to 31-3/4 and DLJdirect (DIR), the Internet-trading arm of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), slid 1-1/4 to 24-7/8.
Deals of the day
Elsewhere in the market, the compromise completion of the long-running merger saga involving Qwest Communications International, Global Crossing, US West and Frontier kept merger-minded market participants occupied.
Shares of US West (USW) eased 1/2 to 59-3/4 on news the company has agreed to be acquired by Qwest (QWST) for $36.5 billion, a takeover proposal that hadn't been solicited by US West. Qwest shed 1-1/16 to 33-15/16.
Meanwhile, Frontier (FRO), whose merger deal with Global Crossing (GBLX) remained intact, saw its shares fall 2-3/16 to 56-15/16.
Global Crossing was the only immediate beneficiary of the partner-changing on Wall Street, with shares inching up 1/4 to 46-3/8 after the company terminated its $30.7 billion merger deal with US West.
In the day's other headline telecom deal, shares of Anglo-American cellular provider Vodafone (VOD) slipped 13/16 to 213-7/16 after the company acquired U.S. rival CommNet Cellular (CELS) for $1.36 billion in cash and assumed debt. CommNet shares edged up 5/16 to 40-13/16.
Finally, Microsoft (MSFT) shares fell 1-1/16 to 98-3/8. The software publisher said Monday it will sell parts of its troubled city directory service Sidewalk.com to TicketMaster Online-CitySearch (TMCS) for 9 percent of TMCS' stock, a deal worth about $240 million. Ticketmaster shares, however, leapt 6-1/16, or nearly 18 percent, to 40-1/16.
Shortly after the market closed, Microsoft reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings, once again beating market expectations. The world's largest software maker earned a profit of 40 cents per share in the quarter, four cents above market expectations.
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers.)
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn technology stocks report.) 
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