Stocks Open Mixed in Early Trading

07.07.2004
Associated Press

Stock prices were narrowly mixed in early trading. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 8 points in Wednesday's early going. Advancing issues on the New York Stock Exchange held a 3-2 lead over decliners.

The Nasdaq composite index was ahead 2 points, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down a fraction.

As the market braced for the coming flood of second-quarter earnings reports, investors were adopting a cautious attitude.

The profit reports were poised to begin after the closing bell as Dow component Alcoa, Internet giant Yahoo and biotech Genentech were scheduled to post results.

The market was also watching crude oil prices, which were hovering near the $40-per-barrel mark, although they were losing ground in Wednesday's trading.

In corporate news, PeopleSoft said second-quarter earnings would fall short of expectations. But the business applications software company said business isn't the problem but rather the adverse effect of the hostile takeover effort by rival Oracle.

There were no economic reports on tap to help drive market action.

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