NEW YORK - Stocks closed sharply lower Monday as fresh economic data showed the US economy was hotter than expected.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 176.04 points, or 1.59 percent, to end at 10,914.13.
The Nasdaq composite index lost 46.21 points, or 1.67 percent, to 2,712.69. And the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index slipped 24.25 points, or 1.80 percent, to 1,324.02.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) volume was relatively light, with about 595.5 million shares trading on Monday. Declines led advances by 2,133 to 835.
The 30-year US Treasury bond fell more than a full point, with its bid price dropping 1-1/8 late Monday. The loss pushed the yield, which moves in the opposite direction of the price, up to 6.06 percent from 5.98 percent on Friday.
"Over the short term, we're going to have to suffer through this correction that's started," said Gary Anderson, a principal at Anderson & Loe in Eugene, Oregon. "In general, I would say the market is soft.
"I think the Internets group has yet to wash out," Anderson said. With even online traders showing some timidity, the sector is losing some support, he added.
The Commerce Department reported that sales of new US homes in July rose 0.1 percent to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 980,000 -- the second-highest level on record. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected an annual rate of 910,000.
AT&T fell 1-1/2 to 46. The company announced it had slashed its home long-distance rate to 7 cents per minute, for calls placed from a customer's home seven days a week. MCI WorldCom and Sprint recently announced rate cuts to as low as 5 cents per minute. MCI WorldCom fell 2-7/16 to 76-1/16 and Sprint declined 2-3/8 to 44-3/4.
Republic Services tumbled 5-1/4 to 11-1/4. Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown cut its rating on the trash hauler to buy from strong buy and Salomon Smith Barney cut earnings estimates.
Allstate fell 1-11/16 to 33-11/16. Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the stock to near-term neutral from buy.
Coulter Pharmaceutical fell 10-15/16 to 23-1/2. The company said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested modifications to its marketing application for Bexxar, an experimental drug for treating lymphoma.
The NYSE Composite index fell 10.58 to 615.13. The price of the average share fell 73 cents.
The Wilshire Associates Equity Index -- the market value of all listed NYSE, Nasdaq and American Stock Exchange issues --closed at 12,069.588, down 207.496 or 1.69 percent.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
