DOW SETTLES FOR GAIN OF 9 AFTER WILD RIDE.Byline: Leslie Wayne The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times The stock market rode out the busiest day in its 204-year history Tuesday, and the wildest day since the 1987 market plunge, to end basically unchanged. As the closing bell sounded at 4 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average Dow Jones Industrial Average The best known U.S. index of stocks. A price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks, primarily industrials including stocks that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. reported a gain of 9.25 points - less than 1 percent - to close at 5,358.76. This came after stocks dropped sharply Monday, scaring investors and causing the market to open uneasily Tuesday on fears that the plunge would snowball. But it did not. Still, investors were treated to a roller coaster ride in which the Dow, after rising briefly, plunged by 212 points and then climbed 219 before stabilizing. And technology stocks, which had soared in the first half of the year, continued to face heavy battering, although many began to rise at day's end as news leaked that Intel Corp., a bellwether semiconductor company, would report strong earnings after the market's close. The technology-heavy Nasdaq market, as measured by its composite index Composite Index A grouping of equities, indexes or other factors combined in a standardized way, providing a useful statistical measure of overall market or sector performance over time. Also known simply as a "composite". , fell by 6.89 points, or about 1 percent, to close at 1,053.49 - about where it opened for the year. Mutual fund companies began to report a modest level of redemptions as minor investors began to leave the market. As buyers and sellers flooded the markets with orders, volume records were broken on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. , where a historic 683 million shares changed hands, and on the Nasdaq market, where a record 877 million shares were traded. This frenzy was a reflection of genuine confusion in the marketplace as investors wondered where stocks would head next. Even the experts were baffled. ``The reason is . . . who knows?'' said Byron Wien, an investment strategist at Morgan Stanley  To comply with Wikipedia's , the introduction of this article needs a complete rewrite. & Co. ``Some people say the economy is too strong, and
others say it is slowing.''
Prices in New York stood in sharp contrast to the dismal performance of shares on other world exchanges Tuesday. Taking their cue from the Monday plunge in New York, stocks in Tokyo, London and everywhere in between suffered declines. If Monday's market was dominated by concerns about falling corporate profits, Tuesday's market had no clear force behind it. This, analysts say, reflects a belief that worries about falling corporate profits may be overblown o·ver·blown v. Past participle of overblow. adj. 1. a. Done to excess; overdone: overblown decorations. b. and that investors are still uncertain about whether the market has switched to bearish Bearish Words used to describe investor attitude. A bearish investor believes that a particular asset or the market as a whole will decline in value. bearish . CAPTION(S): Photo, chart PHOTO (color) Traders at the New York Stock Exchange applaud at closing time Tuesday. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Chart: Position of the Dow Jones industrial average during the day Tuesday. |
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