New Slump Erases Last Of Dow’s ‘97 Advance

The Dow Jones industrial average took its third big spill in four sessions on Wednesday, wiping out almost all that remained to this year’s robust gains.

The Dow fell 94.04 to 6,517.01, trimming 1997’s once-healthy gains to just 1 percent. Less than a month ago, when it set an all-time high at 7,085.16, the famed blue-chip barometer was sporting a 10 percent gain for 1997.

Broad market measures also pulled back sharply in Wednesday’s volatile session, which saw the Nasdaq market sink to its lowest level since September.

Notably, in less than a week, the buzz among market analysts has shifted from whether or not the market has entered a “correction” - a term used to describe a pullback of at least 10 percent - to how steep the correction will be.

“Intellectually, most people felt a correction would be a good thing for the market,” said Russ Labrasca, senior vice president at Principal Financial Securities of Dallas. “But now that we’re in the midst of one, no one is pleased with the pain that goes along with that correction.”

With Friday’s employment report looming over the jittery market, many money managers were reluctant to bargain hunt. The shortage of buyers and the relatively low trading volume left the market vulnerable to computer-driven sell programs that kicked in repeatedly during the session.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by more than a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled 478.14 million shares as of 4 p.m., down from 507.06 million on Tuesday.

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

NYSE

America Online, down 1-1/8 at 44-5/8.

CompuServe (Nasdaq), up 1-5/8 at 12-5/8.

H&R Block confirmed that it’s in talks to sell its CompuServe online service, responding to rumors that AOL was interested in bidding for its troubled rival. H&R Block, which owns 80 percent of CompuServe, did not name a bidder.

Computervision, down 1-3/8 at 3-7/8.

The maker of computer-aided design software warned that it will report a substantially wider first-quarter loss than analysts had expected.

NASDAQ

CD Radio, up 5-7/32 at 12-19/32.

American Mobile Satellite, up 5/16 at 11-1/8.

The two companies won licenses for a new radio service promising top-quality sound that can be heard anywhere in the country.

AMEX

Bema Gold, up 9/16 at 7-1/2.

An independent resource estimate indicated that the Cerro Casale deposit in Chile contains more than 24 million ounces of gold and more than 6 billion pounds of copper.