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Dow beats slow retreat
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November 25, 1998: 11:33 a.m. ET
Blue chips take another step back as market regroups after Monday high
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. blue chips drifted further into negative territory at midday Wednesday as the market extended its retreat from Monday's record high in a session characterized by a pre-holiday lack of investor excitement.
Shortly before 11:30 a.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was 41.45 points lower at 9,259.70. Advances trailed declines 1,391 to 1,267 as 225 million shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Nasdaq Composite inched up 1.20 to 1,967.08 and the S&P 500 index was down 1.98 at 1,181.01. (Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers)
The bond market was mostly higher, getting little inspiration from the day's heavy dose of economic data. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rose 6/32 of a point in price, for a yield of 5.19 percent.
The dollar rose against the Japanese yen and traded nearly unchanged against the German mark.
U.S. financial markets will be closed Thursday for the holiday.
Holiday mood slows down stocks
The newsmakers in the stock market were few and far between on a day in which investors seemed ready to slow down and leave early for Thanksgiving.
But the holiday spirit did not prevent investors from pushing the stock of Sabratek (SBTK), a maker of alternative-site health care products and devices, down 9-23/32, or nearly 42 percent, to 13-17/32. The reason for the tumble lay in the company's announcement that it had discontinued its Rocap line of prepackaged and pre-filled flush syringes and, as a result, its fourth-quarter performance would suffer.
Elsewhere, shares of Intuit (INTU) fell 2-3/8 to 57-1/2 even after the company reported a smaller-than-expected fiscal-first-quarter operating loss.
And the stock of Novell (NOVL) climbed 13/16 to 18-3/16 after that company's fourth-quarter results beat market predictions.
Finally, investors also failed to warm up to the prospect of a corporate union between Seagull Energy (SGO) and Ocean Energy (OEI), a deal that will create a sizable independent exploration and production firm. Shares of Seagull tumbled 1-5/16, or more than 12 percent, to 9-1/2 and the stock of Ocean dropped 1-1/8, or almost 11 percent, to 9-1/8. 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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