Dow Loses 14 on Profit-Taking: Early-Trading Surge on Good Inflation News Is Obliterated
From News Services NEW YORK, Aug. 12ÛÓGood news on inflation lilted blue-chip stocks to record levels during trading today, but a bout of profit-taking wiped out the gains by the end of the session.</br></br>The Dow Jones industrial average dropped Id.26 points to close at 3569.09, after climbing to an intra-day record high of 3594.52. Volume was heavy at 278.5 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange, up from</br></br>The surprising report that wholesale prices fell 0.2 percent in July aided the market, analysts said, but then investors sold to take profits. Pressure on stocks also intensified after bond prices shed their gains in reaction to a poor Treasury bond auction.</br></br>"It's rather typical for this market literally for the whole year. We get a run-up and then a bout of profit-taking,Û said Thom Brown, managing director at Rutherford Brown & Cather-wood.</br></br>Gene Jay Seagle, director of technical analysis at Gnintal & Co. said, ÛÏWeÛªve had some very heavy program activity today. ThatÛªs probably responsible for a good deal of the damage.Û Shares of health maintenance orga- nizations recovered after WednesdayÛªs debacle, while a sharp drop in gold prices sent gold mining companies lower.