Dow Drops 43.71 On Last Day Of First Quarter

The Dow Jones industrial average skidded Friday to a deficit of more than 50 points in the last half hour, before finishing the day down 43.71 at 5,587.14. The well-known barometer of big U.S. companies finished the quarter with a gain of about 470 points, or about 9.1 percent, most of it coming over a four-week surge starting in late January.

Most analysts said the Dow’s drop Friday, which came despite a solid gain in bond prices, was due largely to last-minute positioning by portfolio managers looking to show strong results for the quarter.

“This is mostly about end-of-quarter window-dressing,” said Dan Ascani, president of Global Market Strategists in Gainesville, Ga. “The past few quarters we’ve seen selling into the end of the quarter. The weakness today should be followed by a rally early next week.”

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 11 to 9 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled 413.04 million shares as of 4 p.m., up from Thursday’s pace.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Friday:

AMEX

Viacom B, up 1-1/2 to 42-1/8.

Video rental chain Blockbuster Entertainment, a Viacom unit, named the heir apparent at Wal-Mart as its new chairman, tapping a retailing veteran who helped build Wal-Mart into the world’s biggest video seller.

NASDAQ

MediSense, up 14-5/16 to 44-9/16.

Abbott Laboratories said it is acquiring MediSense, a maker of portable blood sugar monitors for people with diabetes, for $876 million. Abbott will pay $45 cash for each outstanding share of MediSense, a 50 percent premium over the stock’s closing price on Thursday.

Micropolis, up 13/16 to 3-5/16.

The maker of computer and video products completed the sale of its disk-drive business, which will allow it to pay off about $20 million in debt. Earlier this month, Standard & Poor’s, a credit-rating agency, lowered its debt rating on Micropolis, saying the company may have to file for bankruptcy if it did not complete the sale of the disk-drive operations.

Schnitzer Steel Industries, down 3-3/8 to 26-1/8.

The scrap-metal recycler reported second-quarter earnings below expectations.

NYSE

Wal-Mart, down 1 to 23.

Bill Fields, heir apparent at Wal-Mart, was hired away by Viacom to head the Blockbuster Entertainment Group. The retailing veteran had headed Wal-Mart’s main discount store business since 1993. The loss of Fields was seen as another blow to Wal-Mart, which has seen weaker profits lately.

American Standard, down 2 to 29-1/4.

The company said its first-quarter earnings will be below analyst estimates because of weaker than expected European markets for plumbing products, especially in Germany and France.

Eastman Chemical, down 4 to 69.

The chemical, fiber and plastic maker said it expects its first-quarter earnings to fall below analyst estimates because prices on its products have fallen but raw material and energy costs haven’t dropped accordingly.