Dow Closes Down 15.35 as Jitters Set In Again

Stock prices took a spill today after an early advance faltered.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, up more than 10 points in the early going, closed with a 15.35 loss at 2,243.04.

Declining issues outnumbered advances by about 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 610 up, 810 down and 527 unchanged.

Big Board volume totaled 177.21 million shares, up from 147.43 million in the previous session.

The NYSE’s composite index dropped .75 to 161.74.

Analysts noted that the market had shown signs since the start of the week of recovering from the recent jolt it suffered as a result of bad news on inflation and a round of interest-rate increases.

The upswing continued as rates declined modestly in the bond and short-term money markets this morning.

But then the bond market gave up its gains as traders studied a government report showing stronger-than-expected gains in personal income for January.

By late afternoon, prices of long-term government bonds, which move in the opposite direction from interest rates, showed losses of about $5 for each $1,000 in face value. And stocks followed the bond market’s lead.

In early trading in the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments were up 1/32 point, intermediate maturities were down by between 1/32 point and 1/8 point and long-term issues fell as much as 5/32 point, according to the Telerate Inc. financial information service.

The movement of a point is equivalent to a change of $10 in the price of a bond with a $1,000 face value.

The Shearson Lehman Hutton daily Treasury bond index, which measures price movements on outstanding Treasury issues with maturities of a year or longer, was down 0.46 at 1,121.93.

In the corporate market, prices edged up. Moody’s investment grade corporate bond index, which measures price movements on 80 corporate bonds with maturities of five years or longer, rose 0.62 to 297.08.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, was quoted at 9 13/16%, unchanged from late Tuesday.