Interest rate fears distract investors

Stocks closed mostly lower yesterday as reviving fears of rising interest rates distracted investors from the latest stream of…

Stocks closed mostly lower yesterday as reviving fears of rising interest rates distracted investors from the latest stream of good news about corporate profits. At the close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 120.32 at 10,349.93, having edged back from a loss of as much as 155 points.

Broader stock indicators finished with much more modest losses.

The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 8.02 to 1,293.63, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.58 to 2,815.94.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a three-to-two margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,850 down, 1,201 up and 503 unchanged.

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NYSE volume totalled 765.63 million shares at the close, against 951.92 million in the previous session.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 0.93 to 417.76.