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Mixed returns on Wall St.
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July 28, 1999: 5:02 p.m. ET
Stocks drift in opposite directions as Greenspan gives no new interest-rate insight
By Staff Writers Malina Poshtova Zang and Robert Scott Martin
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stock markets closed mixed Wednesday as investors shrugged off part two of Alan Greenspan's Capitol Hill testimony on the economy and interest rates, and focused instead on adjusting their market positions in light of the latest earnings reports and in the wake of the previous day's market rally.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 6.97 points to 10,972.07. Market breadth on the New York Stock Exchange was negative, with losers ahead of gainers by 1,617 to 1,328, as trading volume rose to 695 million shares.
The Nasdaq composite index climbed 26.51 points, or just under 1 percent, to 2,705.84 and the S&P 500 index rose 2.56 to 1,365.40.
In the second leg of his semiannual Humphrey-Hawkins testimony, this time delivered to the Senate Banking Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan repeated the same prepared remarks he gave the House Banking Committee a week ago.
Although Greenspan knocked both stocks and bonds into a downturn last week by warning that the Fed will act forcefully to raise interest rates at the first sight of rising inflation, investors were less disturbed by Wednesday's repetition, while the lack of more hawkish comments helped provide the market with support.
The bond market sought direction as investors dissected the question-and-answer session that followed Greenspan's Senate comments, although the Fed chief's unscripted responses contained little firm insight into the future of interest rates.
The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rose 1/32 of a point in price, leaving the yield at 6.01 percent, unchanged from Tuesday's close.
The dollar eased against the yen but gained a little ground against the euro.
Earnings rule the day
Meanwhile, investors in the stock market turned away from Greenspan to focus more heavily on shares of companies releasing second-quarter earnings reports.
Internet stocks were especially vulnerable to profit disappointments. Market players battered the stock of eToys (ETYS), pushing it down 1-1/32 to 38-1/4, after the Internet retailer late Tuesday reported a much larger fiscal first-quarter loss than a year earlier.
The Street.com (TSCM) also suffered a decline, falling 2-9/16 to 29-3/16 after the financial Web site reported a smaller-than-expected second-quarter loss.
Shares of Internet service provider Mindspring (MSPG) tumbled 4-3/4, or nearly 12 percent, to 35-1/2 even though its second quarter beat Wall Street forecasts by 2 cents per share.
But bigger online players enjoyed a small rally, encouraged by Greenspan's unchanged views amid hopes that the fast-growing Internet business will continue to benefit from relatively low and stable interest rates.
Amazon.com (AMZN) gained 4-3/4 to 105-3/4, America Online (AOL) advanced 4-5/16 to 102-1/2 and Yahoo! (YHOO) climbed 11-11/16 to 143.
Offline earnings, techs chime in
Outside the Internet, the flood of earnings reports continued at the same pace, and with the same mixed results.
Shares of DuPont (DD) rose 11/16 to 72-13/16 on news profits at the chemical conglomerate exceeded expectations in the second quarter. The Dow component logged a profit of 78 cents per share, beating forecasts by a nickel.
Drugstore chain CVS (CVS) also reaped the benefits of stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings, as investors pushed the company's stock up 3 to 50-3/4.
However, live-entertainment promoter SFX (SFX) lost 1-5/8 to 47-7/16 after the company posted an operating loss where analysts had forecast a second-quarter profit.
Among the day's merger-related winners, shares of Mylex (MYLX), a maker of high-performance computer storage hardware and software, rose 1-5/16, or almost 13 percent, to 11-9/16 on news IBM (IBM) is buying the company for $240 million cash.
Shares of Dow computer maker IBM gained 2-1/8 to 128-3/8, keeping time with other technological heavyweights' gains.
Fellow blue chip Hewlett Packard (HWP) climbed 11/16 to 109-15/16. Compaq (CPQ), which released its earnings after the closing bell, edged up 9/16 to 25-15/16. The world's largest personal- computer maker lost 10 cents a share in the second quarter, its first quarterly operating loss in almost 10 years. Compaq also said it would cut 6,000 to 8,000 jobs and take a charge of as much as $900 million in the third quarter.
Shares of leading microchip maker Intel (INTC) jumped 2-3/4 to 70-5/16, while software publisher Microsoft (MSFT) overcame early profit-taking pressure in the wake of Tuesday's technology rally, forging ahead 1-3/16 to 90.
(Click here for a look at today's list of CNNfn market movers.)
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn technology stocks report.) 
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