Blue-chip stocks collapsed in the final half-hour of trading in New York yesterday, deflating a rally fuelled by the news of a merger of Dow Chemical and Union Carbide.
The broader market, plagued by fears of inflation, declined much more steeply.
At the close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 2.54 at 10,674.77. The Dow, following what is becoming a familiar pattern, gave up nearly all its gains late in the day and wiped out what had been a 152-point gain.
The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 16.85 to 1,305.33, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 48.07 to 2,539.92.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,008 down, 1,008 up and 516 unchanged.
The NYSE composite index fell 8.06 to 614.34, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 3.87 to 776.60. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 6.59 to 429.69.
