NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stocks maintained moderate losses in afternoon trading Friday as trading slowed in the last hours before the weekend and investors lightened up their holdings ahead of next week's heavy batch of corporate earnings reports.
Shortly before 1:30 p.m. the Dow Jones industrial average was 28.07 points lower at 9,061.71. On the New York Stock Exchange losers outnumbered gainers 1,678 to 1,112 on trading volume of 339 million shares.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 3.70 to 1,936.12 and the S&P 500 index slipped 0.73 to 1,157.83. (Click here for a look at today's hot stocks.)
The bond market was unchanged to slightly lower, with investors unwilling to commit themselves ahead of Japan's parliamentary elections Sunday, which could determine the near-term future of the country's ailing economy. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond was down 3/32 of a point in price for a yield of 5.61 percent.
The dollar steadied against the German mark and the Japanese yen as investors waited to see whether Russia will seal an international aid package and who will win Japan's weekend election.
Earnings worries strike again
The selling, which started with a profit warning from Dow member DuPont (DD) Thursday, returned to the stock market as investors still felt unsure about the quality of the second-quarter earnings corporate America is about to deliver.
Internet issues, the market's hottest and most speculative sector, headed south again after a strong rally earlier in the week and a stellar earnings report from bellwether Yahoo! (YHOO). Shares of Yahoo! fell 4 to 180, rival Lycos (LCOS) lost 2-11/16 to 68-1/4 and Excite (XCIT) was down 1-7/8 to 80-3/8. Online book retailer Amazon.com (AMZN) fell 6 to 99-1/2.
Big name technology stocks also headed lower in the morning, but later bounced back. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) inched up 1/2 to 111-1/2, Dell (DELL) rose 11/16 to 100-9/16, and Intel (INTC) was up 7/16 to 80-3/16.
On the day's list of companies producing profit warnings, shares of Safeco (SAFC) lost 2-1/16 to 46-3/16 after the insurance company blamed bad weather for denting its second-quarter earnings.
Finally, airline shares also suffered from weakness, with AMR (AMR), the parent of American Airlines, losing 1 to 85-13/16 and Delta Air Lines (DAL) shedding 1/8 to 134-7/8. The Dow transports index fell 21.16 to 3,554.64.
Big names expected to release their earnings next week include Dow components J.P Morgan (JPM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Eastman Kodak (EK), as well as chip maker Intel (INTC) and Ford (F).
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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