Stocks End Three Days Of Luster --- Industrials Lose Steam And Fall 92.92 Points; 30-Year Bond Slips
Stock-market indexes posted sharp declines in the final hour of trading yesterday, although traders and investors described the slide as the natural outcome of three straight days of gains.</br></br>"The market has just run out of steam for a little while," said Bob Basel, head of listed stock trading at Salomon Smith Barney. "There's nothing worrying in what we're seeing here."</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 92.92 points to 7691.77. Resilient technology stocks buoyed the Nasdaq Composite Index, which retreated only 1.70 points to 1547.06.</br></br>The 7% decline in Hong Kong's Hang Seng stock index overnight ensured that the trading day in North America began on a sour note. It also revived fears that even if U.S. companies with exposure to Asian markets post better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter, they may not be as lucky in the first half of 1998. Indeed, Eastman Kodak reported stronger operating earnings for the fourth quarter, but warned of a slowdown in the first quarter, thanks to the strength in the U.S. dollar and growing competition.</br></br>Buying by institutional investors such as mutual-fund managers, responsible for much of the 204.27-point advance in the Dow in the first three days of the week, was hard to spot yesterday, traders said.