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Juniper warning, tech troubles sour markets

Markets close lower after a technical glitch cripples the New York Stock Exchange for most of the morning, and Juniper Networks warns of lower second-quarter revenue.

Margaret Kane Former Staff writer, CNET News
Margaret is a former news editor for CNET News, based in the Boston bureau.
Margaret Kane
3 min read
Technology and stocks were two things that just didn't go together Friday.

A technical glitch shut down trading on the New York Stock Exchange for most of the morning. And what looked like a budding tech stock rally was quashed after Juniper Networks warned of lower second-quarter revenue.

The Nasdaq composite index was off 48.90 to 2,215.10, and the Dow Jones industrial average slumped 113.70 to 10,977.00.

The New York Stock Exchange, the largest equity market system in the world, halted trading on all stocks Friday morning because of a technical glitch. Trading reopened at 8:35 a.m. PDT.

Many of the stocks traded on the exchange, including several components of the Dow Jones industrial average, did not begin trading at the opening bell Friday morning.

"We lost connectivity between our data sites and the trading floor. We could have continued trading with other than our systemic traffic, but did not feel this was fair, particularly to the retail investor," NYSE officials said in a statement.

It appeared that about 63 million shares traded before the exchange shut down. The glitch prompted the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to halt trading in its Standard & Poor's 500 stock index futures contracts and the S&P MidCap 400 futures contracts.

The exchange was scheduled to hold a press conference after the closing bell.

Things didn't go much better for tech stocks. Before the markets opened, it looked like Intel would boost stocks. The company stuck with its previous revenue projections, giving investors something to cheer about. Intel dipped 47 cents to $30.67.

Techs tried to rally on that news but were quickly stymied when Juniper lowered its forecast for the second quarter and announced plans to cut its work force by 8 percent to 9 percent. The maker of Internet routers cited a "challenging" business environment for telecommunications service providers and carriers, which make up its customers. Juniper fell $8.61 to $38.02.

Juniper's news sent many networking stocks plunging. Cisco Systems fell $1.33 to $20.49, Avici Systems lost $1.08 to $9.24, and Ciena dropped $5.70 to $56.14.

TranSwitch shares tumbled after the communications chipmaker issued a profit warning for the current quarter. The company said it would post a loss between 10 cents and 12 cents a share. Shares slid $2.46 to $12.40.

The telecom market might suffer for another 12 to 18 months until operators cut their debt burdens, Lucent Technologies Vice Chairman of Equipment Ben Verwaayen told a German newspaper on Friday. Lucent shares were off 8 cents to $8.40.

Internet search firm Verity rose $4.08 to $23.39 after getting an upgrade from Thomas Weisel Partners. Verity said Thursday that it had filed a lawsuit against software maker BroadVision, alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition.

Separately, Verity announced it expects to post revenue of about $41 million for the fourth quarter, up about 35 percent from the same period last year and in line with revenue projections. Rival BroadVision was off 42 cents to $5.75.

Among leading volume movers, Microsoft lost 49 cents to $73.19, Dell Computer was up 8 cents to $25.69, and Sun Microsystems dropped $1.02 to $17.01.

Staff and Reuters contributed to this report.