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Stocks in search of direction
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July 13, 1998: 10:07 a.m. ET
Wall Street caught between Japanese election, Russian aid, earnings at home
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stocks opened mixed in choppy trading Monday, reflecting a market seeking direction after a weekend election surprise in Japan, news of a multibillion dollar international aid package for Russia and a heavy dose of U.S. corporate earnings reports.
Shortly before 10 a.m. the Dow Jones industrial average fell 31.15 points to 9,074.59. On the New York Stock Exchange, declines led advances 1,210 to 949 as 57 million shares changed hands.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 5.41 to 1,948.45 and the S&P 500 index fell 2.85 to 1,161.48.
The bond market opened higher, helped by gains in the dollar after Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffered a setback in Sunday's parliamentary elections and Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto resigned. But the prices of Treasury securities soon headed south as Russia announced it had secured a $22.6 billion international aid package. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond fell 25/32 of a point in price, raising the yield to 5.67 percent.
The dollar surged against the Japanese yen overnight as news of the election results hit the market and triggered fears that much-needed economic reforms will stall . The greenback later gave some of its gains back and settled in a trading range. The dollar headed lower against the German mark after news of the Russian aid package came out.
Wall Street sings an earnings song
Stock market investors, caught between all the news from Japan and Russia and a barrage of second-quarter earnings reports from home, seemed comfortable leaving the market close to unchanged until the longer-term effects of the news become clear.
Among stocks moving in early trading, shares of Applied Materials (AMAT) fell 1-13/16 to 27-11/16 after world's leading maker of computer chip equipment warned of weaker-than-expected results for the latest quarter.
And shares of E*Trade Group (EGRP) soared 5-1/2, or more than 22 percent, to 30 after news Friday that Japan's Softbank has invested $400 million in the online brokerage.
Major technology stocks headed higher in early trading, with Dell (DELL) rising 1-3/16 to 102, Intel (INTC) up 7/8 to 80-5/8 and Microsoft (MSFT) gaining 1-1/2 to 114-11/16 after announcing the start of a free online real estate service for consumers looking for homes and mortgages. 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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