MARKET CLOSE: Early gains evaporate
Technology stocks slogged through another day of restless trading Wednesday as the Nasdaq composite fell 33 points to close at 3,656.32. The Dow Jones industrial average clipped 3 points to end at 10,628.36.
"It's the profit warnings," said Dan Ascani, president and director of research at Global Market Strategists Inc. "The market is still trying to grind that out. We expect maybe an end to this process, but right now the market is trying to get past the earnings warning season."
One of the few bright spots Wednesday was VerticalNet (VERT), which shot up $2.38 to $32.63 after a couple analysts issued some positive research reports.
Ariba (ARBA) shares fell $7 to $152.06 and Commerce One (CMRC) closed up 81 cents to $75.94.
Metromedia Fiber Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:MFNX) moved up $1.88 to $23.88 after a pair of analysts had kind words for the network-equipment maker.
Microsoft (MFT) shares fell $2.06 to $60.63. Oracle (ORCL) added 44 cents to $79.88 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) closed up 44 cents to $117.94.
Shares of 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS) gained $3.06 to $17 a day after the company surprised investors with a narrower-than-expected loss.
Corning Inc. (NYSE:GLW) lost $20 to $305 after announcing it will buy Pirelli's optical components and devices business for about $3.6 billion.
Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) lost $1.19 to $32.44; Gateway (GTW) tumbled $4.57 to $49.04; Apple Computer (AAPL) shaved off $2.50 to $48.84 and Compaq Computer (CPQ) inched up 15 cents to $29.15.
AvantGo (Nasdaq: AVGO) surged up $8 to $20 in its initial public offering.
M-Wave Inc. (Nasdaq: MWAV) picked up $8.81 to $25.81 after it said third-quarter earnings should be up about 50 percent from the second quarter.
Yahoo! (YHOO) was hammered, falling $12.06 to $90.38. America Online (AOL) shed $1.90 to $53.60 while Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) lopped off $1.88 and $7.19 a share, respectively.
Intel (INTC) added 56 cents to $43.88 and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) lost 88 cents to $24.