Dow off 46,
small caps surge

NEW YORK -- Smaller company shares pushed further into record territory today, but most popular stock measures fell slightly after the Federal Reserve decided not to combat inflationary pressures by slowing the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 46.17 to 7,945.26, despite erasing an early 54-point deficit and bobbing above the 8,000 mark.

Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 9-to-7 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,646 up, 1,278 down and 515 unchanged. NYSE volume was 586.74 million shares vs. 470.54 million yesterday.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list fell 6.06 to 947.28, the NYSE composite index fell 1.75 to 497.23, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 9.31 to 1,685.67.

The Russell 2000 index of small companies rose 2.51 to 453.82, its second record in two days, and the American Stock Exchange composite index, which is dominated by smaller companies, rose 4.60 to 699.26, also padding yesterday's record high.

Technology shares fell only modestly despite some reports voicing concerns about Intel's profits for the quarter ending today, as well as late yesterday's warnings about disappointing results at Ascend Communications and Western Digital.

Ascend, a computer networking concern, slid as the most active Nasdaq issue, followed by Intel, which fell amid reports that Merrill Lynch expects the chipmaker's results to come in at the lower end of expectations.

Western Digital, a manufacturer of computer disk drives, fell in heavy NYSE trading.