US stocks closed lower yesterday as Wall Street took a breather after chasing the market onto record ground last week.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 22.16 points, or 0.20%, at 11,187.68, pausing after racking up the year's 29th record close on Friday.
In the broader market, declining issues led advances 17 to11 on moderate volume of 638 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index was off 34.10 points, or 1.19%, at 2830.38.
''There's a little bit of a 'show-me' type of feeling out there in the market,'' said Marshall Acuff, an equity analyst at Salomon Smith Barney.
With high expectations for a strong summer earnings period and three solid weeks of record highs, Wall Street takes a little more to be impressed lately, he said.
Analysts also said yesterday's drop was merely the result of minor selling by investors hoping to lock in profits.
''We're holding at a very high level,'' said Ned Riley, chief investment officer at BankBoston. ''Performance has been remarkable in recent weeks, and the market may now tread water for a while.'' Microsoft, the world's biggest computer software company, reported earnings rose 62% in its fiscal fourth quarter, well ahead of analyst expectations.
Microsoft posted net income of $2.2bn, or 40 cents per diluted share, compared with $1.357bn or 25 cents a year earlier.
Microsoft chief financial officer Greg Maffei credited strength in the company's core Windows and Office software for the solid results.
He warned that margins have peaked and said revenue growth would slow in fiscal 2000 from the 29% rate in the year just ended due to slowing demand for computers, uncertainty surrounding the Year 2000 computer bug, and uncertain global economic conditions.
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