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Mixed showing for stocks
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November 19, 1998: 1:45 p.m. ET
Wall Street bides its time as broader markets advances, blue chips lag
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street's performance remained mixed in afternoon trading Thursday as investors showed favor for select Internet and technology stocks but found it hard to like blue-chip issues.
Shortly before 1:30 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 9.26 points at 9,031.85. On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,518 stocks advanced and 1,348 declined on trading volume of 407 million shares.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 18.58 to 1,916.02, and the S&P 500 index rose 4.98 to 1,149.46. The Dow transports index, the market's weakest performer, shed 42.82, or 1.4 percent, to 2,943.26 amid a slump in major airline issues. (Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers.)
Despite a slump in the Tokyo stock market, investors around the world felt more confident after Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party formed an alliance with the Liberal Party, triggering speculation that the country's efforts to pull itself out of a recession will accelerate and become more effective.
Coming in the midst of a visit by U.S. President Bill Clinton and during a week that featured a U.S. interest-rate cut, the Tokyo news was seen as a step in the right direction toward restoring economic health around the world.
The bond market turned mixed, shrugging off a higher-than-expected reading on the weekly jobless claims report and stronger-than-anticipated October housing-starts data. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rose 6/32 of a point in price for a yield of 5.25 percent.
The dollar gained modest ground against both the Japanese yen and the German mark.
Dogs and stars among the techs
In the stock market, technology and Internet issues once again attracted most of the attention, putting in a mixed performance.
Shares of online audio and video software maker RealNetworks (RNWK) tumbled 4-5/8, or nearly 11 percent, to 38-1/4 after software titan Microsoft (MSFT) late Wednesday announced it would start selling its minority stake in the company immediately. Shares of Microsoft inched up 3/4 to 110-1/2.
Elsewhere in the web world, Netscape (NSCP), the browser maker-cum-web portal, extended its gains from Wednesday that stemmed from an announcement of a planned partnership with America Online (AOL). Netscape gained 1-13/16 to 41-1/16, and AOL rose 4-11/16 to 88-7/16.
But in related news, shares of Internet search engine Infoseek (SEEK) tumbled 2-7/8 to 34-1/8 after Netscape said it was considering dumping its contract with the company.
Shares of satellite company PanAmSat (SPOT) tumbled 2-5/8 to 39-1/16 after the firm said battery problems on its satellites may cause clients to cancel their contracts.
Finally, a Salomon Smith Barney downgrade sent shares of the three major U.S. airlines sharply lower, with American Airlines parent AMR (AMR) losing 2-5/16 to 62-7/16, Delta Air Lines (DAL) shedding 1-13/16 to 52-3/8 and United Airlines parent UAL (UAL) dropping 3-5/8 to 64-3/8. 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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