NEW YORK -- Stocks sank for a third straight session today as attention shifted to Friday's key economic data after an uneventful speech by Alan Greenspan. Dow dives 78
to below 9,000The Dow Jones industrial average fell 77.97 points to 8,976.68, down more than 200 points from Monday's record high of 9,192.66.
A big loss from Walt Disney Co. weighed heavily on the Dow, which recovered from several slides below 9,000 before capitulating during the final hour.
Decliners led advancers by nearly a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,019 up, 1,942 down and 537 unchanged. NYSE volume was 581.62 million shares vs. 593.12 million yesterday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 9.78 to 1,095.14, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 21.54 to 1,835.14. The NYSE composite index dropped 4.35 to 570.22, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 1.08 to 742.25. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies tumbled 3.41 to 475.96.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond fell 3/32 point, or 94 cents per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.95 percent from 5.93 percent late yesterday.
Stocks seesawed last week amid conflicting signals on whether the inflation-leery Federal Reserve might try to slow the economy with higher interest rates. But Fed Chairman Greenspan, addressing an banking conference in Chicago, provided no new clues on that debate. Instead, he stressed the need to upgrade world financial regulations to help prevent or at least cope with currency crises.