Stock Market Rebound Rally Falls Apart

The stock market tried again to turn itself around and once again failed.

What looked like a rebound rally fell apart late in the day when traders took advantage of higher prices to start cashing in some of their positions.

In the final hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average swung from an advance of about 20 points to a 27-point loss, closing at 11,098.35.

Other indexes flipped from profits to losses in the final hour as well. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index closed more than 5 points lower at 1,256.57. The Nasdaq Stock Market composite index fell 14 points to 2,158.76.

Today's profit-taking losses reflect traders lack of confidence in the market--and in the economy.

That uncertainty is probably justified, because the economy is in transition.

The housing market is slowing down and no one is quite certain what impact that will have. Today Toll Brothers, one of the nation's biggest builders, reported profit growth slowed in the last quarter and said the outlook for the next year is for the trend to continue.

At the same time--and directly related--interest rates are going up. No one can be sure how much higher they will go or how that will affect the economy.

Similar uncertainties trouble investors around the world. Foreign stock markets, which had been falling sharply, stabilized today, raising hope that U.S. markets would turn around. But it didn't happen.