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Posted at 11:41 a.m., Friday, August 5, 2005

Stocks fall on fears of higher interest rates

Associated Press

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NEW YORK — Stocks and bonds slid today after record oil prices and surprisingly strong gains in jobs and wages unnerved investors, who feared that a more robust labor market and higher wages could spark inflation and lead to more interest rate hikes. The major indexes closed down for the week.

Wall Street extended its losses from yesterday after the Labor Department said workers' average hourly earnings rose to $16.13 in July, the largest increase for the year.

The financial markets got no help from the price of oil, which climbed on fears the U.S. gasoline supply wouldn't meet the summer's demand. A barrel of light crude settled at a record $62.31, up 93 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 52.07, or 0.49 percent, to 10,558.03, compounding an 87-point drop the previous session.

Broader stock indicators also closed lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 9.44, or 0.76 percent, to 1,226.42, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 13.41, or 0.61 percent, to 2,177.91.

Bond prices sank. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.39 percent, its highest level since April, from a yield of 4.31 percent late yesterday.

"A nagging concern would be if bond yield continue to go higher," said Steven Goldman, chief market strategist, Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Conn., since rich bond yields make stocks less attractive. "Assuming that does not occur, I think stocks can find support in the next week or two and start to stabilize."

In other trading today, the U.S. dollar was up against the euro. Gold prices were lower.

The early part of the week saw a continuation of the market's July rally, with the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 indexes reaching four-year highs, but higher oil prices and data showing the economy growing at a strong clip ended the advance. Once it became clear that the earnings season that started in early July was going to end with strong corporate growth, investors began to look ahead gloomily to next week's Federal Reserve policy meeting.

The Fed's Open Market Committee, concerned about an overheating economy and inflation, is expected to raise the short-term federal funds rate a quarter percentage point on Tuesday; that would be the 10th rate hike since last June.

The three main indexes ended the week lower for the first time in five weeks. The Dow edged 0.78 percent lower, the S&P drooped 0.63 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 0.32 percent.

Investors have been longing for a sign that the Fed will stop its yearlong streak of interest rate hikes, but an end to the hikes appears less likely after strong data on durable goods, the gross domestic product and today's jobs reports, said Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co.

The Labor Department reported the biggest jobs gain in five months, saying employers expanded their payrolls by 207,000 in July. Revised figures released today for May and June showed payroll gains in those months were also larger than previously thought.

In company news, Delphi Corp. fell 82 cents to $4.96 after the world's largest maker of auto parts confirmed it is in restructuring talks with its main unions and its biggest customer, General Motors Corp. The company also disclosed it had begun drawing on its $1.8 billion credit line to its finance its operations. It said it initiated a draw down of $1.5 billion on Wednesday.

Viacom Inc. rose 12 cents to $34.19 after its second-quarter earnings were flat compared with the same period a year ago, when the company still owned the Blockbuster video unit. Excluding that and other discontinued operations, earnings, reported after the close of regular trading yesterday, rose 6 percent, beating analysts estimates by a penny.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said after the close of trading yesterday its second-quarter earnings doubled, beating analysts' estimates, as sales reached a record. The company also said it would raise some of its prices as its raw materials costs increase. Its stock rose $1.04 to $18.49.

Decliners led advancers roughly 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange where preliminary consolidated volume came to 1.93 billion, down from 1.96 billion yesterday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 9.05, or 1.35 percent, to 662.79.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.98 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.02 percent, Germany's DAX index was down 0.96 percent, and France's CAC-40 was down 0.84 percent.

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The Dow Jones industrials ended the week down 82.88, or 0.78 percent, finishing at 10,558.03. The S&P 500 index fell 7.76, or 0.63 percent, to close at 1,226.42.

The Nasdaq dropped 6.92, or 0.32 percent, during the week, closing today at 2,177.91.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, closed the week down 16.96, or 2.50 percent, at 662.79.

The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index — a free-float weighted index that measures 5,000 U.S.-based companies — ended the week at 12,258.37, down 102.44 points from last week. A year ago the index was 10,307.84.