|
U.S. stocks retreat
|
 |
November 9, 1999: 10:30 a.m. ET
Profit-taking emerges; Nasdaq slides as it tries to maintain winning streak
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Investors took profits at the start of trade on Wall Street Tuesday, with the tech-oriented Nasdaq slipping notably after having rallied Monday to its seventh consecutive record close.
Shortly before 10 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 44.65 points to 10,674.20. On the New York Stock Exchange, advances outnumbered declines 1,181 to 998 as trading volume reached 90 million shares.
The Nasdaq composite slipped 5.28 points to 3,138.69, and the S&P 500 index dipped 4.41 to 1,372.60.
Treasury prices were lower with the 30-year bond losing 4/32 of a point in price, raising its yield 6.06 percent from 6.05 percent late Monday.
The dollar was little changed, falling slightly against the yen and the euro.
More drug merger talk
There were more reports of consolidation in the drug sector.
Life sciences firm Monsanto (MTC) and Switzerland's Novartis are in merger talks, the Wall Street Journal said Tuesday. The report followed last week's heated activity in which Pfizer (PFE) made a counteroffer for Warner-Lambert (WLA), which had agreed to a merger with American Home Products (AHP).
Despite the larger offer, Warner-Lambert executives rejected Pfizer and joined counterparts from AHP on a road show this week to defend the deal originally valued at $72 billion.
Monsanto rose 1-3/4 to 45-1/2, Pfizer added 1/4 to 35, American Home Products was unchanged at 54 and Warner-Lambert edged up 1/2 to 88-3/8.
The technology sector fell to profit-taking. Microsoft (MSFT) was down 3/4 at 89-3/16 after suffering only minor losses Monday on the back of a U.S. judge's findings of fact in the landmark antitrust case against the world's largest software company. The two parties are expected to engage in another round of settlement talks.
Also in the spotlight, Amazon.com (AMZN) was unchanged at 54 after the online retailer said Tuesday it will offer new online operations, including video games and software. Amazon.com issues rose sharply Monday in anticipation of the announcement.
With the majority of technology bellwethers having already reported quarterly earnings, Cisco Systems was expected to release its first-quarter results after the market close Tuesday. Earnings tracker First Call Corp expects the Internet networking equipment company to have posted earnings of 23 cents per diluted share. Cisco rose 5/16 to 75-5/8.
In other earnings news, the nation's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings of $1.3 billion, or 29 cents per diluted share, up from $1.0 billion, or 22 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Despite exceeding analysts' forecasts of 28 cents a share, the stock -- a component of the Dow Jones industrials -- slumped 1-7/8 to 56-5/8.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
