Markets Reflect Profit Worries
Worries about upcoming third-quarter corporate profit reports continued to plague many investors today, helping send the stock market mostly lower.</br></br>Several companies continued a week-long trend of issuing statements predicting lower-than-expected earnings, producing a pessimistic mood.</br></br>Some observers remained upbeat, though, saying the decline was simply part of a normal, temporary reaction to a strong September rally.</br></br>The Dow Jones industrial average closed 11.56 points lower at 4749.70. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by about 7 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange. Big Board volume totaled 385.89 million shares, up from 304.88 million on Monday. Volume declined sharply around 1 p.m. EDT, the time of the O.J. Simpson acquittal.</br></br>The NYSE's composite index gained a scant 0.01 to 312.09. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index rose 0.62 to 582.34.