Investor Jitters Shake Stocks; Dow Average Drops 120 Points
Equity analysts struck a philosophical note today when the stock market put on the brakes and rolled backward after the Dow Jones industrial average approached the 8000 mark.</br></br>The Dow closed at 7842.43, down 119.88 points, after drawing within 10 points of 8000 early in the day. Much of that final loss came in the closing hour of trading.</br></br>"I don't see anything fundamentally wrong," said Peter Canello, one of two U.S. investment strategists at Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover. "The bond market is steady. The inflation outlook is terrific. It's just nervousness . . . an attack of eight thousanditis. We were within 10 points of 8000 and were swamped with profit-taking. . . .</br></br>"My guess is we'll get through 8000 in the near future and I suspect we'll feel better once we do it," he said.</br></br>Canello and others pointed out that a 100-point or more rise or fall in today's market is not what it used to be. The 119-point drop constituted only a 1.5 percent decline in value.