US stocks dip as investors take profits from rally
Caution has crept back into Wall Street as fears over terrorism resurfaced.
The Dow closed down 36.95, or 0.4%, at 9,340.08, while the Nasdaq composite index slipped 3.69 to 1,704.39.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5.12 to 1,084.78, and the Russell 2000 index fell 3.14 to 427.36.
However, the nervousness was not enough to stop investors from trying to move the market higher.
The downturn was not surprising given the Dow Jones industrials' 172-point surge on Monday, which was triggered by largely lacklustre earnings reports.
Among the day's losers, Monsanto fell $4.23 to $32.56, on a loss that was 2 cents a share higher than Wall Street had anticipated.
Pharmacia slid $4.37 to $38.39 after projecting 2002 per-share earnings to be in a range of $1.91 to $1.96, below the $2 Wall Street was expecting. The drug maker's negative outlook overshadowed its third-quarter earnings, which met expectations, and its backing of its 2001 targets.
Winners included companies that surpassed or met analysts' earnings expectations. DaimlerChrysler rose 83 cents to $35.86 after beating analysts' forecasts and affirming its full-year targets, while Kimberly-Clark, which met expectations, advanced $1.14 to $54.36.
Advancing issues matched decliners on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was 1.3 billion shares, ahead of the 1.1 billion shares traded on Monday.
