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Wall St. opens mixed
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December 14, 1999: 10:24 a.m. ET
Dow posts gains following conflicting economic reports; Nasdaq slips
By Staff Writer Jill Bebar
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street staged a mixed performance in early trade Tuesday with U.S. blue chips moderately higher as market participants digested conflicting reports on the U.S. economy. A stronger-than-expected retail sales report sparked some interest-rate worries despite a separate report pointing to tame inflation.
Shortly after 10 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 19.57 points to 11,212.16. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat gainers 1,447 to 826 as trading volume reached 80 million shares.
The Nasdaq composite index dipped 9.69 to 3,648.48, while the S&P 500 index added 1.36 to 1,416.58.
Treasury prices fell sharply, with the benchmark 30-year bond losing 30/32 of a point, raising its yield to 6.27 percent from 6.19 percent late Monday.
In currency markets, the dollar rose against both the yen and the euro.
Investors digest key economic news
Analysts said inflation was holding steady to firming just slightly following the Consumer Price Index (CPI) release. The CPI, a measure of inflation at the retail level, rose 0.1 percent in November, the Labor Department said. The number was marginally less than analysts’ expectations of a 0.2 percent gain. The core rate, excluding volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.2 percent.
But retail sales data were more troublesome. Retail sales advanced at a 0.9 percent pace in November, greater than economists’ expectations of a 0.5 percent increase, fueling some concerns about rate hikes.
Gary Schlossberg, senior economist at Wells Capital Management, said retail sales was the "real surprise.” "The retail sales number implies consumer spending is running well above its long-term average,” he said.
Analysts noted the two reports are significant, since they will be the last key economic releases the Federal Reserve will consider in determining interest rates at its Dec. 21 meeting.
Nasdaq pressured
The Nasdaq posted mild losses in early trade despite sharp gains from certain components, such as 3Com. The weakness follows the composite’s 52nd record close of the year Monday.
3Com Corp. (COMS), the world's second- largest maker of computer networking products, surged 4-11/16, or more than 10 percent, to 49-1/2 after the company filed an initial public offering for its Palm Pilot unit. Palm Pilot is the No. 1 electronic organizer.
The gains spilled over to 3Com rivals Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Lucent Technologies (LU). Cisco added 1/8 to 101-5/16 and Lucent advanced 1-11/16 to 80-13/16.
In the Internet arena, Internet provider Yahoo! (YHOO) and retail chain Kmart (KM)
are expected to unveil an alliance to offer co-branded Internet access, according to the Wall Street Journal. Yahoo! dipped 3-11/16 to 347-3/8, while Kmart rose 3/8 to 11-7/8.
The report follows speculation of a potential marketing alliance between America Online (AOL) and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), the world's No. 1 retailer. AOL slipped 15/16 to 93-1/16 and Wal-Mart, a component of the Dow industrials, fell 11/16 to 67-5/16.
In earnings news, investors await fiscal second-quarter results for Oracle (ORCL). Earnings tracker First Call forecasts 22 cents per share for the leading developer of database systems software. The stock rose 3/4 to 80-9/16. 
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