Tech Stocks Lead the Way As Nasdaq Index Hits High
Technology companies ruled the stock market again, driving the Nasdaq Composite Index to its fourth consecutive record even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell back.</br></br>Bonds fell, the dollar was mixed and Standard & Poor's 500-stock index also hit a fourth straight record.</br></br>The Dow industrials closed at 9176.72, down 8.22. The index's decline was caused by International Business Machines, which fell 3 1/4 to 114 3/4 as investors sold after a six-point gain Tuesday. (Each $1 Big Board move in a Dow industrials component means four points to the index.) The Nasdaq Composite gained 13.74, or 0.7%, to 1917.61 in only the second time Nasdaq volume surpassed one billion shares. The S&P 500 rose 3.87 to 1130.54.</br></br>Technology stocks were powered in part by anticipation, which proved justified, that Microsoft's earnings announcement after the New York close would beat analysts' latest expectations. Intel also continued its gains, based on hopes of a stronger second half, and it pulled semiconductor and personal-computer stocks with it.</br></br>Bank of New York's unsolicited bid for Mellon Bank helped to propel financial stocks, but it didn't create as much broad excitement as had previous news of other, friendly, bank mergers. Travelers Group, Chase Manhattan, American Express and J.P. Morgan all gained, but Citicorp and Merrill Lynch both fell.