MARKET CLOSE: Dow, Nasdaq endure another ugly day

Jan. 2, 2002 4:43 p.m. PT

2 min read

Another day, another beating for technology stocks. The only difference Wednesday was the blue-chip stocks got sucked into the selloff, too.

The Nasdaq composite closed off 286 points to 3,769.51, well below the 4,000-point threshold, while the Dow Jones industrial average shed 162 points to 11,125.13.

"It is basically a highly uncertain market," said Pierre Ellis, senior economist at Primark Decision Economics. "You get a piece of bad news about an important stock and it contributes. It is an ongoing rotation from the new economy to the old economy. Where it is all going to settle it is hard to say."

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) fell another 4 1/2 to 79 3/8. Oracle Corp. (ORCL) slid 4 3/8 to 73 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) closed off 7 1/2 to 80 3/8.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) shed 7 1/8 to 63 1/2 ahead of its first-quarter earnings report. Intel Corp. (INTC) fell 8 7/8 to 121 7/8 and IBM Corp. (IBM) slipped 6 15/16 to 112 7/16.

Iona Technologies (Nasdaq: IONA) tumbled 1 13/16 to 63 3/16 after it reported first quarter earnings of 14 cents a share, topping First Call's expectation of 10 cents a share.

Among widely held Internet stocks, Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) gained 2 11/16 to 136 3/16; Lycos Inc. (LCOS) shed 6 15/16 to 42 9/16; America Online Inc. (AOL) lost 3 1/2 to 62; eBay Inc. (EBAY) dropped 12 3/16 to 143 3/8 and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) ended off 7 to 56 3/8.

E*Trade (Nasdaq: EGRP) lost 11/16 to 22 3/4 after it handily topped First Call consensus estimates and reached break-even on an operating basis. Ameritrade (Nasdaq: AMTD) closed off 3/4 to 18 1/2.

Check Point Software (Nasdaq: CHKP) lost 1 15/16 to 167 9/16 and beat consensus estimates by a nickel a share Wednesday with first quarter earnings of 40 cents a share.

Women.com Networks (Nasdaq: WOMN) added 3/16 to 6 1/8 after announcing a first-quarter lost 16 cents a share, an improvement over First Call's expected loss of 19 cents a share. iVillage (Nasdaq: IVIL) closed off 1 3/8 to 10 1/8.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) dropped 4 1/16 to 51 3/8; Gateway Inc. (GTW) lost 2 13/32 to 55 1/8; Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) lost 10 3/16 to 109 1/4 and Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) closed off 13/16 to 26 3/16.