|
Mixed emotions on Wall St.
|
 |
July 13, 1998: 3:10 p.m. ET
Techs rise, blue chips stay flat as investors mull Japan, Russia, earnings
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stocks remained mixed in late trading Monday as a rally among large technology issues failed to spark buying in the broader market.
Investors seemed more comfortable staying close to neutral while trying to guess the long-term implications of Japan's weekend election and Russia's newly secured multibillion aid package, all while keeping a close eye on a steady stream of earnings news from U.S. companies.
Shortly before 3 p.m. the Dow Jones industrial average fell 5.92 points to 9,099.82. On the New York Stock Exchange, declines led advances 1,662 to 1,208 as 444 million shares changed hands.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 16.84 to 1,959.88 and the S&P 500 index inched up 1.08 to 1,165.41. (Click here for a look CNNfn's market movers.)
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.
Bond prices tumbled as speculation grew that the election setback will turn into a wake-up call for Tokyo to deal with its economic problems and that the Russian aid package will stop the flight-to-quality buying that has been boosting the bond market in recent weeks. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond fell 28/32 of a point in price, raising the yield to 5.68 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 could stall. But a second interpretation of Hashimoto's resignation as a potential push for economic change took the greenback off its highs. 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 near unchanged until the longer-term effects of the news become clear.
Among the day's market movers, shares of Applied Materials (AMAT) fell 15/16 to 28-9/16 after the 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 6-3/8, or more than 26 percent, to 30-7/8 after news Friday that Japan's Softbank has invested $400 million in the online brokerage.
Major technology stocks headed higher, with Dell (DELL) rising 4-3/4 to 105-9/16 and Intel (INTC), which reports its second-quarter earnings Tuesday, up 1-3/4 to 81-1/2. Microsoft (MSFT) gained 4-3/16 to 117-3/8 after announcing the start of a free online real estate service for consumers looking for homes and mortgages. 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
