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Wall St. extends loss
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October 25, 1999: 12:01 p.m. ET
Weak bonds pressure stocks despite several positive Dow earnings reports
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. share prices remained lower at midday Monday, pressured by a weak bond market despite a slew of key earnings reports from several Dow components that were mainly in line or above expectations.
Shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 103.54 points, or almost 1 percent, to 10,370.20. On the New York Stock Exchange, declines outnumbered advances 1,681 to 1,004 while trading volume reached 279 million shares.
The Nasdaq composite index declined 8.37 to 2,808.15. The S&P 500 index dropped 10.33 to 1,291.32.
The bond market fell sharply, pressured by inflation worries, with the bellwether 30-year Treasury bond declining 15/32 of a point in price, raising the yield to 6.38 percent from 6.34 percent Friday.
The dollar fell against the yen, but was little changed against the euro.
Earnings dominate focus
Dow component AT&T (T) rose 1-1/4 to 44-1/4. It earned $1.75 billion, or 54 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter, down from $1.84 billion, or 68 cents per share, in the year-earlier period, excluding special one-time items.
Earnings tracker First Call forecast the phone company's earnings at 53 cents per share, excluding special items.
Union Carbide (UK) rose 1/8 to 60 on the back of lower-than-expected third-quarter earnings of 36 cents per share against estimates of 37 cents per share.
Exxon (XON) fell 1 to 75-7/8 despite beating third-quarter earnings forecasts with $1.5 billion, or 61 cents per diluted share, up from $1.4 billion, or 58 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Analysts expected Exxon to report earnings of 59 cents per share.
Financials fall on interest rate jitters
Financial issues, which are highly sensitive to interest rates, posted losses due to fears of rising rates.
J.P. Morgan (JPM) dropped 5 to 120-5/8, American Express (AXP) fell 2-1/2 to 146-1/8 and Citigroup (C) slipped 13/16 to 47-3/8.
However, technology shares fared better. Excite@Home (ATHM) rose 7/8 to 39-15/16 on news it plans to acquire Blue Mountain Arts Publishing Co.'s Internet greeting card site, Bluemountain.com, for approximately $780 million.
CMGI (CMGI), parent of AltaVista, unveiled a major overhaul aimed at competing with Web portal leader Yahoo! (YHOO). CMGI's shares rose 4-3/16 to 107-5/16.
However, Dell (DELL) fell 1/16 to 39-13/16 despite news it was No. 1 among personal computer sellers in the United States in the third-quarter, beating rival Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ)
Energy deals stir interest
Investors also focused on the energy sector following news that Columbia Engery Group (CG) rejected a $6.1 billion buyout bid from competitor NiSource (NI) . Columbia Energy rose 2-5/16 to 64-5/16, while NiSource gained ½ to 20-7/16.
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