Wary Investors Cost Dow 61

NEW YORK Wall Street stocks lost ground last week as investorsstayed out of the market and left prices at the mercy of professionaltraders.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 61.60 points, or 1.8percent, for the week to close at 3,332.18, surrendering more thanhalf of the 108-point gain it racked up the week before.

Uncertainty provided the dominant theme in trading, accordingto analysts who said big cash-rich institutions spent much of theweek on the sidelines waiting for July employment figures.

Blue chips also took new jabs from the corporate world, losingmore than 50 points from Tuesday to Thursday as bad news saddled Dowcomponents IBM Corp. and General Motors Corp. with big losses.

Even when the employment data proved slightly better thanexpected, with a 198,000 job gain in non-farm payrolls, manyinvestors still left the market to computerized trading programs andthe fortunes of the bond market.

But even some analysts pessimistic about the economic andcorporate earnings picture believe the market will rise as biginvestors look for new places to put their capital.

Institutions such as pension funds and insurance companies aresitting on a growing pile of cash and could decide whether to buystocks or bonds after this week's $36 billion sale of Treasurysecurities.

Analysts believe strong interest in the Treasury sale thatbegins tomorrow will boost stocks by providing an endorsement forinvesting in securities as a whole.

Among other market indicators, the Standard & Poor's 500composite index fell 5.33 points to 418.88. The Nasdaq index fell7.09 points to 573.74 and the American Stock Exchange gained 1.28 to390.13.