NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks fell today for the third time in four days, led by financial services companies and banks such as J.P. Morgan & Co., on concern that Brazil isn't taking steps to fix its slumping economy. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 184.86 points to close at 8,879.68. Dow off 184
J.P. Morgan and American Express Co. accounted for one-third of the Dow's loss.
The Standard & Poor's 500 was down 21.11 to 1,150.14, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 40.88 to 1,954.34.
Advancers trailed decliners by an 18-to-11 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,152 up, 1,886 down and 483 unchanged. NYSE volume was 801.49 million shares vs. 724.41 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite index was down 8.34 to 563.45 and the American Stock Exchange composite index lost 6.41 to 653.53.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.49 to 395.00.
The 30-year Treasury bond was up 6/32 to 103 24/32, with its yield falling to 5.01 percent.
The stock of Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc. soared today following the completion of an initial public offering of 7 million shares at $14 each.
Shares of the Pasadena, Calif.-based company closed up $26.25 at $40.25 on the Nasdaq. Earlier, the shares were as high as $63.371/2. The company had expected the shares to price at between $11 and $13 each.
Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch sells concert, sporting event and other tickets over the Internet and provides city maps.
On the economic front, the U.S. Labor Department reported that productivity of American workers grew at a healthy 3 percent.