MARKET CLOSE: Tech, blue-chip stocks enjoy late rally

Technology stocks staged a late rally Tuesday after the Commerce Department reported that retail sales declined 0.3 percent in May. The Nasdaq composite closed up 83 points to 3,851.11 while the Dow Jones industrial average pushed up 58 points to end at 10,621.84.

The data led to worries the economy may be decelerating faster than expected, especially in light of some profit warnings from technology and blue-chip companies in the past few weeks.

"On the one hand, it makes it more likely the Fed does not need to do anything at the next meeting, but it is also calling into question whether there may be too much of a slowdown, a slowing of the rate of earnings growth that the market has been counting on," said Jeffrey Applegate, chief investment strategist at Lehman Brothers.

NBCi shares plunged 7, or 28 percent, to 17 5/8 after the portal warned that it will miss analysts' estimates by between 10 to 15 cents a share this quarter.

Companies tied to NBCi, including CNet (Nasdaq: CNET), down 2 11/16 to 31 3/8 and ValueVision (Nasdaq: VVTV), off 4 to 24 1/16, also took a hit.

Among other portal players, Go2Net (Nasdaq: GNET) shed 3/4 to 44, About.com (Nasdaq: BOUT) dropped 4 5/8 to 33 5/8 and Go.com (NYSE: GO) closed off 1/2 to 12 1/2.

Yahoo! (YHOO) gained 2 1/16 to 139 1/2. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) picked up 9/16 to 49 while Lycos (LCOS) and eBay (EBAY) rose 1 7/16 and 1 3/16 a share, respectively. America Online (AOL) closed down 1 3/4 to 51.

Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HWP) slid 7 to 119 after a downgrade from Sanford Bernstein raised concerns that technology companies will not meet investors' expectations for profit growth.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) inched up 3/16 to 45 1/16; Compaq (CPQ) tacked on 5/16 to 26 1/4; Apple Computer (AAPL) gained 3 5/16 to 94 1/2 and Gateway (GTW) closed off 3/16 to 54 1/16.

Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM) moved up 5 11/16 to 152 3/8 after it said it will buy Innovent Systems, a maker circuits for Bluetooth technology for about $440 million in stock.

Microsoft (MSFT) picked up 1 to 67 7/8. Oracle (ORCL) added 1 1/8 to 81 11/16 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) finished down 5/16 to 90 1/16.

Intel (INTC) charged up 6 7/16 to 131 1/2. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) gained 1 7/8 to 87 3/8 and IBM (IBM) closed up 7/8 to 119 11/16.