Dow Drops As Investors Turn Wary

Stocks fell Wednesday as investors, worried about corporate earnings, sold high-flying technology shares and fled to the relative safety of consumer issues.

The Dow Jones industrials outperformed the broader market and ended just 9.03 points lower at 4,740.67, paring a midday loss by more than half as the bond market picked up in the afternoon.

Declining issues led advancers by about 7 to 4, and volume was light because of the observance of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.

“It’s a split tape, a split market,” said Joseph DeMarco, the top stock trader at HSBC Asset Management America. “People seem to be rotating out of the economically sensitive issues into the more defensive names, like drugs, utilities and beverages.

“I think the basis for that is concern about a mixed read on the economy and the potential for some earnings disappointments in the third quarter.”

Some of the stocks that moved substantially Wednesday:

NYSE

LSI Logic fell 6-3/4 to 49-7/8.

National Semiconductor Corp. fell 1-3/4 to 25.

Zelig fell 1 to 40.

SoundView Financial Group downgraded the stocks to “hold” from “buy.”

Silicon Graphics fell 1-1/2 to 30-3/4.

IBM fell 1-1/8 to 93-3/4.

Compaq fell 1-1/2 to 46.

Computer-related stocks moved broadly lower after SoundView Financial donwgraded five semiconductor stocks.

Merck rose 1-1/4 to 59-1/4.

Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 1-3/4 to 76-1/8.

Pfizer rose 1 to 56-3/8.

Schering Plough rose 1-1/4 to 54-3/8.

Drug stocks rallied amid a broad flight into so-called recessionresistant issues.

Ford Motor fell 3/4 to 29-3/4.

Chrysler fell 1/8 to 51-1/4.

General Motors fell 1 to 44-3/8.

Ford said its U.S. car sales dropped 16.8 percent in September.

NASDAQ

Apple Computer fell 1-1/4 to 36-3/8.

The stock fell amid a general decline in computers. In addition, the company said that Vincent Graziano is leaving his post as chief financial officer, citing “differences in opinion with” CEO Michael H. Spindler.

AMEX

Ivax Corp. rose 5/8 to 29-3/4.

The company bought Poland’s Pharmatop Ltd. for 350,000 common shares and said the outlook is good for pharmaceutical sales in Poland.