Stocks edged lower on Wall Street yesterday as investors locked in some gains in bellwether technology shares and other blue-chip issues that have led a record-setting rally.
The Dow Jones industrial average, up nearly 500 points over the past two weeks, slipped 8.97 points - or 0.11 per cent - to 8,180.52 after recovering from a 47-point slide. An early 27-point gain had put the Dow within 50 points of its August 6th record close of 8,259.31.
Declining issues barely outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,447 up, 1,466 down and 545 unchanged.
NYSE volume totalled 524.08 million shares, against 568.03 million in the previous session.
The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 1.72 to 1,010.74, and the NYSE composite fell 0.34 to 525.97. Both measures closed at new highs on Friday, setting records for the fourth time in five sessions.
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