"If something is more risky, it is less liquid," said Alan Schlesinger, senior vice president and head of high-yield trading at Donaldson Lufkin.

Later, he became a senior vice president and head of trading.

"It's an extremely nervous market," said Robert Hatcher, vice president of corporate trading at the New York office of Barclays Bank P.L.C.

Alliance Capital Management, for example, which owns more than 500 stocks and works with 200 brokerage firms, has narrowed the list since October, said Dan V. Panker, senior vice president and head of trading.

"Crude ultimately didn't show a lot of change," said Jim Ritterbusch, vice president of trading and research at the Carson Petroleum Company in Chicago.

"Instead of fighting on the battlefield, they seem to want to fight in the press," said Jim Ritterbusch, vice president of trading and research for the Carson Petroleum Company in suburban Chicago.

To a certain extent, the market had positioned itself short of dollars," said Tom Hoge, vice president of corporate trading at the Bank of New York.

The crude oil number was ostensibly bearish but could be overshadowed by the gasoline figures, said Jim Ritterbusch, vice president of trading and research for the Carson Petroleum Company.

Mr. Mullens was executive vice president and head of trading, retiring in 1985.

Mr. Crooks, who is 46 years old, was an executive vice president and head of over-the-counter trading at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Company since May.