Dow Sinks 76, Nasdaq Drops 37

The Dow lost 76.2 points today to close at 11,152, the Nasdaq lost 37.10 points to close at 2,153 and the S&P 500 lost 9.28 points to close at 1,271. Stocks sank today on geopolitical concerns related to North Korea's missile test, inflation concerns related to data suggesting stronger-than-expected US June payrolls, and record oil prices. Also in the news today was the death of Enron-founder Kenneth Lay, just a month after he was convicted of fraud related to the company's collapse.

Volume was light today with 1.5 billion shares trading on the NYSE and 1.6 billion shares on the Nasdaq. Decliners topped advancers by a margin of 24:9 on the NYSE and 21:10 on the Nasdaq.

In individual stories, CD&L Inc. (AMEX: CDV) gained 31% after the company agreed to be acquired by Velocity Express (Nasdaq: VEXP) for $3 per share. Shares of the acquiring company, VEXP, gained 23%. On the downside, Trident Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: TRID) lost 17% after Thomas Weisel downgraded the stock from Outperform to Peer Perform.

Tomorrow traders will be looking for data on Initial Jobless Claims at 8:30AM and Oil Inventories at 10:30AM. In addition, a flood of sales data from individual retailers will be released throughout the day.

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