NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - The Dow Jones industrial average dipped for the first time in November Wednesday as investors paused from a rally that came amid hopes for an economic rebound.
Technology stocks fared batter, with the Nasdaq composite index ending little changed at a nine-week high. But some analysts doubt the market's recent run is sustainable, despite some of the lowest interest rates in 40 years.
"I think we are getting into the resistance levels," Gail Dudack, a market strategist, told CNNfn's Street Sweep. "We are getting to the hard part."
The Dow industrials Wednesday briefly erased all of its post-Sept. 11 loss, a milestone the Nasdaq reached last month.
"A lot of this is investors assuming that things are going to get better," said Charles Payne, CEO of Wall Street Strategies.
Credit some of those assumptions on the Federal Reserve. Central bankers Tuesday stepped up their fight against recession with a tenth interest rate cut in 11 months.
Payne said falling interest rates and lower taxes, combined with billions of dollars in pledged government spending, are "a real powerful mix for some kind of recovery."
The Dow industrials shed 36.75 to 9,554.37 after briefly climbing above its 9,605.51 close of Sept. 10. The Nasdaq gained 2.45 to 1,837.53, its third straight gain, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 3.06 to 1,115.80.
On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing and declining stocks were nearly even as 1.4 billion shares traded. Nasdaq losers narrowly topped winners 9-to-8 on volume of 2 billion shares.
In other markets, Treasury securities rose. The dollar dipped against the euro and yen.
Assessing the rate cuts
On the Nasdaq, Cisco Systems (CSCO: up $0.46 to $18.93, Research, Estimates), Sun Microsystems (SUNW: up $0.20 to $12.59, Research, Estimates), and Oracle (ORCL: up $0.36 to $15.58, Research, Estimates) rose.
But losses in Honeywell (HON: down $0.87 to $31.12, Research, Estimates), Wal-Mart (WMT: down $1.12 to $53.82, Research, Estimates), and Home Depot (HD: down $0.75 to $41.95, Research, Estimates) weighed on the Dow.
The mixed action follows a rally Tuesday, when the Fed - trying to encourage consumer and business spending - brought a closely watched lending rate to levels not seen since 1961.
Among winning stocks, catalog retailer Lands' End (LE: up $6.41 to $42.15, Research, Estimates) said third-quarter profit rose to 41 cents per share, more than twice the consensus forecast.
Qualcomm (QCOM: up $0.38 to $55.11, Research, Estimates) also rose. The gains came even though the wireless provider said fourth-quarter profit fell short of forecasts and warned that results in the current quarter and full year will miss forecasts.
Media company News Corp. (NWS: down $0.05 to $27.70, Research, Estimates) posted a first-quarter profit that fell to 6 cents a share, missing forecasts, as it blamed weak ad revenue made worse following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Compaq Computer (CPQ: down $0.51 to $7.99, Research, Estimates) tumbled. Hewlett-Packard (HWP: down $0.63 to $19.18, Research, Estimates) repeated its support for the proposed $18.4 billion purchase Compaq, one day after the family of co-founder William Hewlett said it would oppose the merger.
Very productive
U.S. worker productivity showed surprising strength in the third quarter, the government said, rising 2.7 percent, a development that tends to lower business costs.
Mortgage costs are also falling, and homeowners have noticed. The Mortgage Bankers Association of America said Wednesday its index of loan applications rose to a record high last week.
The news counters a string of dismal economic reports showing rising unemployment, and slumping manufacturing and consumer confidence.
But Wall Street has been hanging tough. The Nasdaq stands more than 29 percent above its levels on Sept. 21, the first week of trading following the terrorist attacks. The Dow industrials are up 16 percent since their September bottom.
"People are saying at some point the recession will be over and earnings will come, and at some point you have to own stocks," Michael Holland, CEO of Holland & Co., told CNNfn's Market Call.
But other see short-term hurdles for a market that has made an impressive run.
"My feeling is it's going to be hard to stay up here," Ross Margolies, portfolio manager at Salomon Smith Barney, told CNNfn's Street Sweep.
For its part, the Fed appeared to leave open the door for another rate cut next month. Before that, the European Central Bank meets Thursday to set interest rates for the European region. 
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