Dow Down 15.88 When Smoke Clears
The stock market fell from record highs Thursday on profit-taking ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, but the drop was stemmed by a late rally in tobacco stocks on a legal victory for cigarette makers.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 15.88 to 5,762.12. But the blue-chip average would have shed another 20 points if not for Philip Morris, which surged after a court blocked a major tobacco liability suit. In the morning, the Dow was within 4 points of 5,800 just days after its first close above 5,700.
Most broad measures also ended lower as investors found few incentives to bid a pricey market even higher. But many technology stocks bucked the trend, lifting the Nasdaq market to a record high. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange; volume totaled 431.83 million shares as of 4 p.m.
Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily:
NYSE
Philip Morris Companies, up 6-1/4 at 103-7/8
RJR Nabisco Holdings, up 2 at 33-1/8
Brooke Group, up 3/4 at 6-7/8
A federal appeals court snuffed out a class-action liability suit brought against the tobacco industry on behalf of millions of smokers. The ruling is a major victory in the industry’s quest to avoid billions of dollars in damages. A three-judge panel agreed with arguments that a class-action suit would be too unwieldy. The suit accuses the industry of concealing knowledge that nicotine is addictive and manipulating nicotine levels to keep smokers hooked. The case can proceed on behalf of the original four plaintiffs.
Saks Holdings, down 2-1/8 at 32=1/2
The new stock retreated slightly from a big gain on Wednesday, its first day of trading after an initial sale of 16 million shares at $25 each. Investcorp, which will continue to own about three quarters of Saks, acquired the retailer for $1.6 billion from BAT Industries PLC in 1990.
NASDAQ
Open Market, up at 39-7/8 from initial offering at 18 The new stock more than doubled on its first day of trading after an initial sale of 4 million shares at $18 each. Open Market, which lost $6.9 million in the first quarter, makes software for electronic commerce on the Internet. Its products perform functions such as ordering, authorization, payment processing, security and customer service.
Syquest Technology, up 3-1/4 at 17-7/8
Iomega, down 2-3/4 at 51-1/4
The stock jumped for the fourth straight day on apparent speculation the computer-disk drive maker is a takeover candidate. Syquest, which started the week at 6-1/16, also may be benefiting from the success of Iomega, a rival maker of memory storage devices, which has climbed all week amid a 2-for-1 stock split and enthusiasm over recent product demonstrations.