NEW YORK -- Stocks fell today, as a profit warning by Hewlett- Dow falls 39.6
Packard Co. yanked the Dow Jones industrial average down from yesterday's record high, but failed to rattle the market.
The Dow fell 39.61 points to 9,172.23 after recovering from an opening plunge of nearly 100 points and briefly flirting with a new high. Notably, the blue-chip barometer would have posted a small gain if not for the plunge by Hewlett-Packard, which was equivalent to a 45 Dow points.
Decliners led advancers by a 7-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,242 up, 1,719 down and 579 unchanged. NYSE volume was 575.24 million shares vs. 599.28 million yesterday.
Broad-market indicators closed lower after surrendering some marginal gains. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 1.49 to 1,117.37, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 0.82 to 1,865.36. The NYSE composite index fell 0.89 to 578.31, the American Stock Exchange index lost 1.61 to 741.38, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 1.93 to 475.55.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond fell 19/32 point, or $5.94 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.98 percent from 5.94 percent late yesterday.
HP tumbled about 14 percent following late yesterday's warning that the computer and printer maker's profits have been hurt by price wars and the economic weakness in Asia. Offsetting a big chunk of that loss, however, was IBM, which rallied on yesterday's upbeat presentation to analysts by CEO Louis Gerstner, He said IBM expects revenue growth to accelerate and will cut costs further to boost profit.