Stocks Fall On Earnings Worries --- Rising Bond Prices Fail to Offset Gloom About Profit Levels
NEW YORK -- Stock investors shifted their attention from the hope for lower interest rates, which would spur the economy, and bid prices lower amid a gathering gloom about earnings.</br></br>For the second day in a row, rising bond prices failed to lead stocks higher. Part of the reason was news of lower-than-expected profits at Digital Equipment and United Telecommunications.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average eased 1.48 points to close at 2928.22 in light trading. Broader market indexes fell by wider margins. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, for example, declined 2 to 362.90.</br></br>Long-term U.S. Treasury bond prices rose nearly half a point, or almost $5 for each $1,000 of face amount. In quiet currency trading, the dollar rose against the mark and fell against the yen, which was buoyed by higher Tokyo stock prices.</br></br>Bond prices rose in overnight trading on news of another big drop in gold that was caused, some said, by Arab selling. Bonds eased after the U.S. producer price index, a measure of wholesale inflation, came in close to expectations. But they rose again in response to a broad decline of commodities prices, which was seen as good news for inflation. Trading was moderate.