By Gavin Adamson
(October 26 – 17:30 ET) –
Investors tool a cautious stance
today. They traded lightly on
North American markets, before
pronouncements by regional U.S.
Federal Reserve committee members
on the state of the economy later
this week.
The Dow slipped by 47.80 to
10,302.13. On the Nasdaq, gainers
trailed losers by a margin of 21
to 19, and the index also inched
down 4.71 to 2,811.24. The S&P
crept back by 0.9%, and losers
bested winners by 19 to 12 on the
NYSE today as well.
The biggest news in New York
was the announcement that both
Microsoft Corp. and Intel
Corp., both Nasdaq issues,
will be added to the Dow Jones
Industrial Index to better reflect
the country’s technology-related
economy. November 1st will mark
the first time Nasdaq issues will
be included on the index.
In Canada, the TSE closed down
a bit, 6.61 points, to 7064.88,
on a similarly slow day. Six of
the 14 sub-indices closed higher,
lead by the utilities. BCE Inc.
grabbed C$3.20 to close at $84.40.
The sliding price of gold continued
to bring down mining stocks.
The VSE closed down 5.98 at
395.20, lead by the mining portion
of the exchange. The ME dropped
close to three points to close at
3,740.77. The ASE dropped 16.68
to close at 2806.75.