NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks closed narrowly mixed yesterday after a lackluster session, as traders, chastened by Tuesday's big drop, refrained from placing any big bets.
NATO's launch of airstrikes against Yugoslavia had no apparent effect on the market. Technology stocks, hit hard Tuesday, recovered some ground.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell for the fourth straight day, finishing down 4.99, to 9,666.84, after trading in a narrow range all day.
Worries that earnings would not meet expectations sent the Dow 218.68 lower Tuesday, giving the blue-chip index its second-biggest point loss of the year.
International Business Machines Corp. rose $4.375, to $169.75, to help the Dow yesterday after having slumped in recent sessions. Analyst Steve Milunovich at Merrill Lynch & Co. said the annual report by the world's largest computer company makes a case for buying the stock. Software and services are driving IBM's profits, which should help the share price, he said.
But American Express Co. dragged the Dow lower, falling $4.1875, to $117.125. The stock had gained 33 percent from Feb. 9 through March 18.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index managed a 6.45 gain yesterday to 1,268.59.
Market bull Abby Joseph Cohen, the equity strategist at Goldman, Sachs & Co., raised her 12-month target for the S&P; to 1,325 from 1,275. Cohen also raised her target for the Dow to 10,300 from 9,850.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 42.44 to 2,365.28, after dropping 73 points Tuesday.
Dell Computer Corp., which had fallen sharply Tuesday on earnings jitters, rose $2.8125, to $38.50, in Nasdaq trading after losing 34 percent over seven weeks. Microsoft Corp. rose $4.6875, to $171.25, and Intel Corp. climbed $4.6875, to $119.25, also in Nasdaq trading. Compaq Computer Corp. gained 87.5 cents, to $31.50.
Dell was the most active stock in U.S. trading, with 50.5 million shares changing hands.
Elsewhere on the broad market, the Russell 2,000 index, a benchmark of small-cap stocks, added 1.03, to 384.40; the Wilshire 5,000 index climbed 57.13, to 11,506.31; the American Stock Exchange composite index eked out a 0.28 gain, to 703.60; and the S&P; 400 midcap index gained 4.69, to 357.83.
The Sun-Bloomberg Maryland index of the top 100 Maryland stocks rose 0.77, to 177.26.
Advancers and decliners were almost evenly matched on the New York Stock Exchange, where trading volume was about 762.8 million shares.
Among defense contractors, Lockheed Martin Corp. gained 37.5 cents, to $39.125, and Boeing Co. rose 18.75 cents, to $34.3125. Raytheon Co., which makes Tomahawk cruise missiles, rose $1.125, to $56.50, after saying it is buying back as many as 6 million shares.
Semiconductor equipment stocks lost ground. Applied Materials Inc., up 34 percent year-to-date, fell $1.625, to $57.0625. KLA-Tencor Corp. lost $2.125, to $47. Lam Research Corp., up 57 percent in 1999, slid 93.75 cents, to $28.25.
America Online Inc. fell $3.875, to $117.125, after Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. analyst Dawn Simon cut her short-term rating on the stock to "neutral" from "buy." The cut "was based strictly on the basis of price," as the stock trades at more than 300 times estimated fiscal 1999 earnings, Simon said.
Amazon.com advanced $4.3125, to $123.6875.
In overseas trading, Japanese stocks fell sharply for a second day in response to Tuesday's tumble on Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 stock average slid 3.14 percent.
European stock markets were hit by concerns about earnings and the military action in Kosovo. London's FT-SE 100 stock index was off 0.72 percent, but the DAX index in Frankfurt, Germany, was down more than 2.74 percent, and the CAC in Paris was off 0.52 percent.
Pub Date: 3/25/99