MARKET CLOSE: Dow, Nasdaq pull back

Technology stocks rallied off their lows in late trading Wednesday but the Nasdaq composite still closed off 36 points to 3,333.39. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 72 points to finish at 10,899.47.

"Investors are going to quality names that have been beaten down and if you want to be involved in the Internet you go to AOL, Yahoo and those type of names," said Tony Dwyer, chief market strategist at Kirlin Holdings.

America Online (AOL) gained $1.50 to $52 while Yahoo! (YHOO) and DoubleClick (DCLK) closed up $5.72 and $2.22 a share, respectively.

Amazon.com (AMZN) gained 75 cents to $37.38 and eBay (EBAY) picked up $2.53 to $54.03.

Worldcom Inc. (Nasdaq: WCOM) fell $4.81 to $18.94 after announcing it will spin off its MCI business into a tracking stock. The company also lowered expectations for its fourth quarter and fiscal 2001.

Microsoft (MSFT) rose 75 cents to $69.63. Oracle (ORCL) lost $1.63 to $31.38 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) shed $5 to $105.88.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) gained 94 cents to $30.44; Apple Computer (AAPL) moved up 94 cents to $20.50; Gateway (GTW) picked up 35 cents to $50.95 and Compaq (CPQ) shed 37 cents to $30.04.

Altera Corp. (Nasdaq: ALTR) slid $8.38 to $32.56 after saying that resales of its specialty semiconductors were slightly below management expectations.

Virata Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTA) rallied up $4.63 to $24 after it announced a strategic alliance with Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO). Cisco closed off $1.75 to $52.13.

Intel (INTC) lost 13 cents to $44.88 and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) added $1.19 to $23.81.