Wall Street extended its decline today as stress over rising interest rates weighed on investors for the third straight session.
Investors were still unsettled about inflation and the economy's health despite the absence of any new data. An upswing in consumer prices this week raised fears that the Federal Reserve will continue hiking interest rates and sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 291 points since Wednesday.
However, lower oil prices helped the inflation outlook despite worries about overseas conflicts and speculation that the summer driving season will strain U.S. gasoline reserves. A barrel of light crude fell 56 cents to $68.80 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Meanwhile, news that Dell Inc. would begin using Advanced Micro Devices Inc. chips in its top-selling computers gave both stocks a boost and gave the technology sector some support. The market's recent selloff put the Nasdaq composite index in the red for 2006.
In morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average declined 14.97, or 0.13 percent, to 11,113.32.
Broader stock indicators shed earlier gains. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 0.03 at 1,261.78, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 2.06, or 0.09 percent, to 2,178.26.
Advancing issues led decliners by 15 to 13 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume of 324.6 million shares topped 207.6 million shares at the same point Thursday. Expiration of futures and options contracts was expected to make trading volatile.
Bonds trickled lower after Thursday's surge, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 5.07 percent from 5.06 percent late in the prior session. The U.S. dollar recouped losses against the Japanese yen, and gold prices plunged to $665 an ounce.
Dell said it would begin offering AMD chips in some of its computers, a significant switch from its long-standing use of only Intel Corp. processors. Dell also posted an 18 percent drop in quarterly earnings. Dell rose 49 cents to $24.44, AMD gained $2.67 to $34.02 and Intel slumped 31 cents to $18.34.
Apparel retailer Gap Inc. late Thursday said profit slid 17 percent last quarter amid a deepening sales slump that the company said should end in the second half of the year. Gap rose 70 cents to $18.62.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.83, or 0.39 percent, to 715.64.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.42 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.04 percent, Germany's DAX index gained 0.15 percent and France's CAC-40 was higher by 0.71 percent.
AP