Dow Peeks Above 5,000, Then Retreats

The Dow Jones industrials tumbled in a late-day selloff Monday, unable to hold on to an early drive that sent the blue-chip index past the milestone 5,000 mark. Broader market indexes were also lower.

The Dow average hit 5,000.43 at 10:03 a.m. and later surged to over 5,003 in midafternoon trading before turning downward to close at 4,983.09, a 6.86-point slide from Friday’s record-breaking levels.

“We had big run ups for the last three days, and now the market is trying to get back to normal,” said Arnold Owen, managing director at SoundView Financial Corp.

Declining issues led advancers by nearly 6 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, with volume totaling 333.12 million shares as of 4 p.m., vs. 437.20 million on Friday.

The NYSE’s composite index dropped 1.20 to 318.92, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was down 3.22 to 596.85 and the American Stock Exchange’s market value index slipped 0.37 to 531.59.

A selloff of technology stocks pulled down the Nasdaq composite index 15.56 to 1,029.47.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily.

NYSE

First Interstate Bank, down 1-1/4 at 133-3/4.

First Bank Systems, down 3/4 at 52-1/4.

Wells Fargo, down 3/8 at 211-3/8.

First Interstate Bancorp’s board of directors urged shareholders to reject Wells Fargo & Co.’s latest hostile takeover proposal. The board still believes a friendly merger with First Bank System Inc. of Minneapolis would best serve shareholders.

AT&T, down 1/8 at 65-1/4.

Time Warner, down 3/8 at 39-3/8.

The Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T is in active discussions about a multibillion-dollar investment in Time Warner’s cable business.

Micron Technology, down 5-1/4 at 49-7/8.

Texas Instruments, down 3-1/4 at 56-1/2.

Barron’s financial weekly reported that an oversupply of memory chips may reduce prices.

Hewlett-Packard, down 4-1/2 at 84.

Duff & Phelps Equity Research lowered Hewlett-Packard from “buy” to “accumulate.”

NASDAQ

VISX, up 3-1/8 at 33-3/8.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said the Food and Drug Administration indicated it would approve its excimer laser system to treat nearsightedness, or myopia.

BioChem Pharma, up 1-1/4 at 37.

The Canadian company announced that the anti-HIV drug 3TC, which has a brand name of Epivir in the United States, was cleared for marketing late Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in combination with AZT for the treatment of AIDS.

Micron Electronics, down 3-3/4 at 14-5/8.

CS First Boston lowered its fiscal 1996 earnings estimate of the Boise-based computer products maker to 81 cents a share from $1.22.