Wall St. may be looking up
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July 24, 1998: 8:19 a.m. ET
After 404-point Dow plunge this week, investors may be back in buying mood
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Investors may be ready to shout "enough" Friday after a 404 point plunge in the Dow industrials index this week.
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 195.93 points to 8,932.98 Thursday, marking the third-largest point drop of the year and the first dip below the 9,000 mark in July.
The Nasdaq Composite, in its third day of losses following a nine-day run of record highs, lost 34.53 to 1,935.22. The broad S&P 500 index sank 24.33 to 1139.75.
Key Asian markets got a boost as Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party chose Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi as its new leader, who presumably will be named prime minister.
The Japanese yen solidified, trading early Friday at 140.45 to the dollar.
Bonds were moving lower as the yen rose. The 30-year Treasury bond was off 9/32 of a point in price for a yield of 5.67 percent.
European markets, rather than focusing on Asia's gains, were grumbling about the Dow's slump Thursday.
Early signs suggested U.S. stocks were headed back on the winning path Friday as early trading in S&P Futures pointed to a rebound of about 50 points at the open of trading on Wall Street.
(Click here for the latest S&P Futures quote)
Knight Ridder may join those U.S. stocks on the up-tick Friday after the nation's second-largest newspaper chain met analysts' estimates for profits in the second quarter.
Knight Ridder (KRI) shares closed at 52-1/16 in Thursday trading, up 5/16.
PepsiCo, just days after buying juice maker Tropicana to do battle with Coca-Cola, now may be emulating its longtime rival by possibly taking its bottling operations public.
PepsiCo (PEP) stock was off 1-15/16 to 37-9/16 Thursday.
Gateway missed analysts' earnings targets for the second quarter, despite an 8 percent climb in net profit and a double-digit rise in revenue. Early Friday, Salomon Smith Barney raised its rating on Gateway to buy from accumulate, but Prudential Securities lowered it to hold from buy.
Gateway (GTW) shares closed off 3 to 58-3/4 and slumped to 56 in after-hours trading.
And high-flying Internet search engine Infoseek reported late Friday a smaller-than-expected loss in the second quarter. Revenues more than doubled, but overall traffic through the site slipped.
Infoseek (SEEK) lost 5/16 to 31-3/8 on Thursday.
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