U.S. Stocks Set 5-Month Low, Tumbling 1.7% --- Trading Is Extremely Light As Corporate and War News Continue to Damp Enthusiasm
WITH CORPORATE and war news continuing to occupy investors, blue-chip stocks fell to their lowest level in nearly five months, reinforcing some traders' views that the market is unlikely to turn around soon.</br></br>In one of the lightest trading sessions of the year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 132.99 points, or 1.7%, to 7704.87 -- its worst performance since Oct. 10.</br></br>Other indexes mirrored the Dow industrials' performance. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index dropped 1.54%, or 12.82 points, to 821.99, and stands less than five points above what would be a low for the year.</br></br>Approaching the third anniversary on Monday of its all-time closing high of 5048.62, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell nearly 1%, or 12.52 points, to 1307.77. The index is now 30 points away from its 2003 low point and that milestone of three years ago seems like a dream. Nasdaq volume fell to 1.21 million from 1.24 million.</br></br>A "bunker mentality" is governing the markets, said John O'Donoghue, a managing director of trading at Credit Suisse First Boston. "Volumes are still anemic," he said, and "anything that even had a whiff of safety to it is just being sold as well."