NEW YORK -- The Nasdaq market set a new high today as smaller-company stocks continued to draw money away from the blue-chip sector, which was jostled by more worries about third-quarter profits. Dow off 44.83
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 44.83 points to close at 7,822.41, trimming the week's gain to 199.99. The blue-chip average was down as much as 81 points, but reversed course in the afternoon when the Federal Reserve publicly dismissed a rumor that Alan Greenspan, the respected chairman of the central bank, was planning to resign.
Advancers beat decliners by a 7-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,657 up, 1,175 down and 548 unchanged. NYSE volume was 536.39 million shares vs. 559.33 million yesterday.
Broader stock measures finished mixed.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list fell 1.82 to 929.05, and the NYSE composite index lost 0.47 to 484.64. The Nasdaq composite index rose 11.14 to 1,635.77, beating its Aug. 6 record close of 1,630.44.
The Russell 2000 rose 3.33 to 433.04, also a record. The small-company dominated American Stock Exchange composite index rose 5.29 to 667.55, its fourth consecutive record close.
Meanwhile, the price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was off 11/32 point by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 6.64 percent from 6.60 percent yesterday.
The blue-chips took an early hit after several big companies warned of disappointing results for the current quarter and Smith Barney, citing profit concerns, downgraded consumer products giants such as Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, and Gillette.
P&G fell sharply as the Dow's weakest component, and the list of biggest decliners on the New York Stock Exchange was dominated by Tupperware, Boston Scientific and American Standard, the companies that issued profit warnings.
The earnings jitters quickly canceled out the initial relief over a report suggesting that upward pressure on wages -- a key force behind inflation -- remained fairly tame in August.
The Labor Department reported that the nation's unemployment rate crept up to 4.9 percent in August as new jobs were created at the slowest pace in nearly a year.
Only 49,000 jobs were created as unemployment rate edged higher from a 23-year low of 4.8 percent in July. However, the report also showed mildly unsettling increases in hourly wages and the average work week.
Government officials and analysts downplayed the data, noting the temporary impact of the UPS strike.