Industrials Fall 35.79; Bonds Skid --- Rising Interest Rates Push Yield Near 7%
For the fourth trading session in a row, rising interest rates pressured stock prices, bringing the losses in the Dow Jones Industrial Average since last week's record to more than 223 points, or 3.24%. The dollar climbed.</br></br>The industrial average reversed some of its early losses to end the day at 6660.69, down 35.79, compared with the record 6883.90 set last Tuesday. International Business Machines continued to lead the index downward, falling 4 3/4 to 145 3/4. The selling spilled over into other technology stocks, helping push the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index down 11.02 to 1352.81. The broader market also suffered: Standard & Poor's 500-stock index dropped 5.50 to 765.02.</br></br>"The only common theme is that the stocks people were buying eagerly, they're now selling eagerly," said Mike Driscoll, block trader at Smith Barney. For instance, General Electric, until last week a favorite on many shopping lists, continues to slip. GE fell 1 1/2 to 100 3/8.</br></br>While the volume of selling appeared to slacken, with a relatively tame 445.5 million shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, Mr. Driscoll said substantial additional selling was seen in the Chicago stock-futures trading pits.</br></br>Uncertainty about interest rates may be keeping buyers of both stocks and bonds sidelined until crucial economic data are released this week, traders believe. And as the rising yield on the 30-year Treasury bond again approaches 7%, Bill Kirby, co-head of government securities trading at Prudential Securities, says some investors are beginning to talk about moving some assets from stocks to bonds.