Wall Street report: Monday close

INVESTORS grumpy that they may have been cheated out of a much-heralded profit rebound accelerated the selling that last week inflicted the worst five-session loss since September 2001. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 90.85 points or 0.9% to 9,819.87. The Nasdaq fell 6.96 points or 0.4% to 1656.93.

Analysts said some of the weakness was due to a 'buyers' strike' as investors decided not to put more cash in play. Reasons for investor discontent include recent signs that the economic recovery may have stalled, snuffing out hopes of a snapback in company profits.

An argument has been raging on Wall Street about how much of a profit recovery has already been factored into share prices. Bears point to the markets' snapback since September as evidence that investors had over-reacted to evidence that the economy was recovering.

Boeing helped steady the Dow early in the day after Merrill Lynch came out with a bullish report on the aircraft maker. Aerospace analyst Byron Callan lifted Boeing shares from a 'buy' to a 'strong buy'. 'We believe demand for large civil aircraft is bottoming out and there are signs of recovery that point to up earnings for Boeing in 2004,' he told clients. Boeing shares leapt $2.12 or 5% to $43.63, 40% above their September lows.

Merrill Lynch also came to the aid of General Mills, which took a pounding last week after it lowered its forecasts. Shares in the cereal maker, down 5% on Friday, recovered only slight ground to close at $43.02 on an opinion from Merrill that the selling had been overdone.

But investors showed no forgiveness for some of the other big losers of the past few sessions. WorldCom plunged another 92 cents or 28% to $2.86. AOL Time Warner slid 68 cents or 3.6% to $18.04. Tyco International dropped another $2.90 or 15% to $17, 60% below where it stood in January. Internet security firm VeriSign, which lost almost half its value on Friday, stumbled another $1.82 or 18% to $8.07.

Local telephone company Qwest Communications, which has run into one problem after another lately, sagged 79 cents or 14% to $4.96 on reports of a fresh investigation into its affairs, this time in the State of Minnesota.

DuPont eased 63 cents or 1.4% to $43.27 after the chemicals maker said it would lop 2,000 jobs from its textiles and interiors dvision. An upgrade from Goldman Sachs helped ChevronTexaco climb $1.26 or 1.5% to $85.86 despite lower oil prices. ExxonMobil slid 30 cents or 0.8% to $39.70.

Tech stocks were mixed, with Cisco Systems up 22 cents or 1.6% to $14.13, Microsoft ahead 74 cents or 1.4% to $52.24 and Intel down fractionally at $28.04.

Among Dow components, Citigroup shed 17 cents or 0.4% to $42.88, Walt Disney lost $1.08 or 4.5% to $23.02, Eastman Kodak gave up 61 cents or 2% to $31.99 and Wal-Mart firmed 40 cents or 0.7% to $56.20.