Greenspan eases strain

COMMENTS from Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan took US stocks off their lows at midsession yesterday, with the Dow Jones industrial average losses easing and the Nasdaq composite index holding a solid gain.

At about 12:40pm ET, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 70.20 to 8,568.99. It was down more than 232 points just after Greenspan began speaking.

But the Nasdaq composite index rose 16.32 to 1,398.94. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index lost 5.62 to 912.31.

”Soothing words from the Federal Reserve Chairman perhaps brought the markets back off their lows,” said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co.

”Greenspan’s certainly not said anything that would hurt the markets.”

In his semi-annual report to the Senate on monetary policy, Greenspan said: ”The fundamentals are in place for a return to sustained healthy growth.”

Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by 9-to-7 as 939m shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers 10-to9 as 1.21bn shares traded.