Blue Chips Fall; Bond Prices Up; Dollar Gains
Profit-takers knocked the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower in nervous trading ahead of today's employment report. Bond prices rose, and the dollar strengthened.</br></br>The industrial average slid 8.58 points to 3544.87. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 1.36 to 452.49, but the Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.36 to 706.22.</br></br>Analysts said stock market investors took the opportunity to sell some shares at a profit after the surge in prices earlier this week. The analysts added that investors are strikingly fickle lately as they await clearer signs on the economy and inflation. As a result, individual stocks, and even entire groups, quickly fall in and out of favor.</br></br>"People are chasing butterflies," said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co. "When lightning strikes, everyone jumps to where it is, and when it calms down they go somewhere else."</br></br>Investors will scrutinize today's employment report for a hint of the economy's health. But Mr. Metz argued that signs of an improving labor picture may not lift stock prices significantly. "The stock market has already priced in a strong earnings outlook for the balance of the year," he said.