Wall Street Stocks End Sharply Lower

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 17, 2002

Wall Street Stocks End Sharply Lower

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Wall Street stocks ended sharply lower Wednesday, with the Dow index tumbling more than 200 points, as investors thought an economic recovery might take longer time after Intel cut its capital spending in 2002 and negative earnings reports came from General Motors and JP Morgan Chase.

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 211.88 points, or 2. 13 percent, to 9,712.27, after rebounding 32.73 points on Tuesday.

Broader stock indicators were sharply down. The technology heavy Nasdaq composite index plunged 56.47 points, or 2.82 percent, to 1,944.44. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 18.62 points, or 1.62 percent, to 1,127.57.

Investors were worried about the economic outlook and corporate earnings after Intel, the world's largest chip maker, said that it will cut its capital spending by 25 percent in 2002, citing weak demand in semiconductor sector, after the company reported sharply lower earnings on Tuesday.

The market tumbled after a lower opening on Intel's announcement, along with grim earnings reports from bellwethers such as General Motors and JP Morgan Chase, with the Dow index dropping more than 100 points and the Nasdaq composite plunging nearly 2 percent in the first 15 minutes of the trading.

Meanwhile, a Federal Reserve report, known as the Beige Book, said that U.S. business activity remained generally weak from late November to early January although there are some signs of an economic improvement.

General Motors fell 21 cents to 49.75 dollars after the world's largest auto maker reported that its quarterly earnings per share plunged to 60 cents from 1.15 dollars a year ago, while Ford lost 9 cents to 14.95 dollars, and DaimlerChrysler declined 64 cents to 40.15 dollars.

JP Morgan Chase dropped 1.67 dollars to 36.20 dollars as the financial company said that its earnings per share fell to 12 cents in the fourth quarter from 37 cents a year earlier due to exposure to the Enron bankruptcy and the Argentine economic crisis.

In technology sector, Intel closed down 97 cents at 33.71 dollars, Microsoft slipped 1.68 dollars to 67.87 dollars, Oracle skidded 41 cents to 16.58 dollars, Cisco Systems sank 74 cents to 18.94 dollars, and Compaq Computer declined 23 cents to 11.17 dollars.

The NYSE index closed down 7.47 points at 575.16, the American Stock Exchange index lost 6.10 points to 829.42, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was off 8.58 points at 476.42.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 9-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,132 up, 2,006 down and 200 unchanged.

NYSE volume increased to 1.46 billion shares from 1.38 billion in the previous session.

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