Dow Falls 100; Nasdaq Slips 73

NEW YORK (AP) â€” Stocks dropped Friday as investors took profits and digested some corporate earnings disappointments. <br><br>At afternoon trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was

Friday, July 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” Stocks dropped Friday as investors took profits and digested some corporate earnings disappointments.

At afternoon trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 100.41 at 10,743.00.

Among broader market indicators, The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 15.32 at 1,480.15, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 72.71 at 4,111.85.

Investors apparently were taking a breather after Thursday's strong rally, sparked by encouraging remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and strong IBM earnings. The Dow on Thursday rose 147.79 to 10,843.87 and the Nasdaq gained 128.93 to close at 4,184.56.
``We have a typical summer Friday with profit-taking and low volume,'' said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jeffries & Co. The tone of the market will still be positive in the days ahead because investors are confident the Fed is done raising interest rates, he said.

A few earnings disappointments added to Friday's selling, particularly in the technology sector. One was from Agilent Technologies, the computer products maker spinoff of Hewlett-Packard, which late Thursday said it expects fiscal third-quarter earnings to fall short of expectations. Shares of Agilent tumbled $24.75 to $48.25 and Dow component Hewlett-Packard fell $4.375 to $123.675.

Also, cell-phone and telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson said third-quarter profits will fall below the first- and second-quarter levels. Shares of Ericsson fell $2.75 to $20.

Other technology losers on Friday included Intel, down $3 to $139.625 and IBM, off $2.50 to $114.50.

There was some good corporate earnings as well.

Fourth-quarter earnings surged 75 percent for Sun Microsystems, which easily surpassed Wall Street expectations amid heavy demand for its Internet hardware and software. Sun rose $6.75 to $104.50.

Meanwhile, Dow component Eastman Kodak met Wall Street's earnings estimates and predicted it would beat third-quarter profit estimates as well. Shares of Kodak slipped $1.875 cents to $58.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 5-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 771.10 million shares, down from Thursday's pace.

The Russell 2000 index was down 9.39 at 525.36.