Blue Chips, Other Indexes Slump for Day, but Gain for April
THE DOW JONES Industrial Average slumped below the 8500 level yet again, but it and other major indexes still finished April with their biggest monthly gains this year.</br></br>In heavy end-of-month trading, the Dow industrials slipped 22.90 points, or 0.27%, to 8480.09, up 6.1% for April and up 1.7% since the year began. It was their biggest monthly gain since October.</br></br>Stocks had bounced up and down throughout the day following a soft reading on manufacturing activity in the Chicago area and an inconclusive comment on the economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.</br></br>Speculation that the Fed might cut target interest rates as soon as next week to stimulate the economy helped push Treasury bond prices up sharply. Stocks appeared poised for a small gain until a surge of month-end profit-taking knocked them down just before regular trading ended.</br></br>"You would expect to see some people step in and make some sales. A lot of these stocks are up 25%, 35%, 40% since the beginning of March," said Robert Harrington, head of listed trading at brokerage firm UBS Warburg.