Bank profits help Wall St., while TSE loses ground

Big U.S. banks such as J.P.
Morgan, Citigroup, and Bank
of America each reported
better-than-expected third-quarter
profits. Their stocks were swept
up at the end of the session,
giving a lift to what was generally
a pretty flat trading day as
investors await tomorrow’s report
on U.S. consumer prices. The Dow
Jones average picked up 95.67
points to close at 10,116.28.

Still, the tech stocks,
described by many as being the last
sector to be hit with a wave of
skepticism, took a hard jolt today,
sending Nasdaq down by 44.0 to
close at 2,668.83. For example,
3Comm Inc. was trading US$ 2
1/16 lower late in the day, at $27
15/16. Dell Computer lost
US$1 1/2 to $41 15/16, and
Lucent fell $2 1/8 to $56
7/8.

The TSE 300 inched a little
lower, losing 16.48 to close at
6,867.96. Three sectors were
up marginally, but the rest were
down. Precious metals slipped
quite a bit, with Franco Nevada
down 25 cents to C$28.7 in late
trading and Placer Dome down
40 cents to C$20.85.

The ME gained 24.49 to close at
3,654.29. In late Pacific trading,
the ASE had slipped by 38.37 to
2,807.59, and the VSE had dropped
6.12 points to 404.47, with most
of the loss coming from the
exchange’s mining stocks.