Stocks Fall In Slow Day; Bonds Gain --- Profit-Taking Pushes Share Prices Lower As Dollar Advances
Profit-taking pushed stock prices lower in a lethargic day. Bond prices edged a little higher and the dollar gained.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 13.20 to 3026.16 in slow trading. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index fell 0.79 to 393.06. But small stocks continued creeping to new highs. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.37 to 521.75.</br></br>Ralph Bloch, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates, ascribed the stock market's modest losses to Mikhail Gorbachev's threat to resign if the independence movement in the Soviet Union continued.</br></br>"I thought we'd see a repeat of Monday when there was no real selling pressure, with maybe a rally try late in the day," he said. "But then Gorbachev threatened to resign and stocks dropped. I don't know why the market responded as it did, since it's no big deal. Gorbachev is still a week behind everybody else."</br></br>But Mr. Bloch said selling pressure wasn't very heavy yesterday. "It was more a case of buyers stepping back than any real across-the-board selling," he said. "It almost strikes me that Gorbachev's statement gave buyers an excuse to step back."