Stock prices dropped Friday, pressured by what analysts described as disappointment that the Federal Reserve hadn't taken new steps to ease credit conditions.
The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials fell 30.19 points to 3,225.40, cutting its gain for the week to 2.01 points.Declining issues outnumbered advances by about 7 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Volume on the Big Board came to an estimated 230.95 million shares as of 4 p.m. EST, against 238.18 million in the previous session.
Traders began to look to the Fed for encouragement after the Labor Department reported that nonfarm payroll employment declined by 91,000 in January, surprising many analysts who had been estimating a modest increase.
Observers generally read the data as evidence that economic weakness in late 1991 carried over into January with little sign of a significant recovery.
That, in turn, was taken as a potential inducement for the Fed to push short-term interest rates lower.
But at midday the central bank signaled through its activity in the money markets that it wasn't ready to do so.
Stock prices, which had been bouncing around uncertainly, then sold off sharply before recovering a bit in late trading. At its lowest levels of the day the Dow Jones industrial average was down almost 50 points.
The bond market, sharply higher in early trading, finished the day with modest gains. Prices of long-term government bonds edged up about $1 for each $1,000 in face value, putting their yields at about 7.75 percent.
Philip Morris, down 21/4 at 753/4, and RJR Nabisco, down 1/4 at 105/8, both were actively traded after a federal judge ordered a tobacco industry organization to turn over documents in a case alleging fraud by cigarette manufacturers.
Other losers among the blue chips included Merck, down 21/4 at 1531/2; International Business Machines, down 3/4 at 891/8; General Motors, down 1 at 34; International Paper, down 1 at 723/4, and American Telephone & Telegraph, down 1/2 at 367/8.
ASA Ltd. fell 27/8 to 501/4. The investment company, which specializes in South African stocks, cut its quarterly dividend from 75 cents a share to 50 cents a share.
Most retailing issues declined after posting some scattered gains Thursday on better-than-expected January sales results.
Kmart dropped 13/8 to 51; Wal-Mart Stores 1/4 to 541/2; Gap Inc. 11/8 to 523/8; J.C. Penney 7/8 to 59, and Sears Roebuck 5/8 to 431/4.
But Circuit City Stores jumped 23/8 to 33, hitting record highs.