MARKET CLOSE: Tech stocks bounce back

Tech stocks generally rebounded Wednesday.

After falling the first two days of this week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 67.27 to 3,523.10 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 rose 7.86 to 1,434.32. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 64.74 to 10,784.48.

Inter@ctive Week's @100 Index advanced 73.58 to 3,882.26.

The Nasdaq's market's steady downward trek over the past month has left it ready to snap back, at least temporarily, said Larry Rice, chief investment officer at Josephthal, Lyon & Ross. "When you get oversold conditions, that brings up a trading rally regardless of the worries.

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) fell 1.5 to 65 as the most active stock on U.S. markets, and became the latest tech giant to tumble; the company got a downgrade and a maintained rating Wednesday, as shares fell 10 percent. Analysts were mixed on whether Oracle's decline Tuesday was due to an overall decline in the business-to-business software sector, or a sign that business is slowing for the software company.

Storage network equipment vendor EMC (NYSE: EMC) retreated 1.4375 to 92.5625 as the most heavily traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange. EMC has been falling all week, with some analysts blaming it on overreaction to a recent filing by company Chairman Richard Egan, who plans to sell 2.1 million shares. Other observers believe EMC is merely getting the same rough treatment recently experienced by other major tech names.

Storage management software developer Legato Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: LGTO), up 0.4375 to 11.875, said it will bring in two new faces to fill key positions in its executive suite.

Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM), up 17.6875 to 241.9375, will acquire British firm Element 14 in a stock swap worth $594 million.

AT&T (NYSE: T) rose 0.4375 to 29.5625. Afternoon reports said the communications giant might sell its long distance business.

Business software vendor Computer Associates (NYSE: CA) gained 3.5 to 27.9375, a day after saying it would report second quarter earnings below analysts' estimates. Observers suggested that the preannouncement wasn't as bad as many were expecting.

Knight Trading Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NITE) was down 3.6875 to 28.5, or 15 percent after announcing it will post lower than expected third quarter earnings. E*Trade (Nasdaq: EGRP) fell 0.5 to 15.31.

Shares of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) rose 0.9375 to 36 after Robertson Stephens analyst Lauren Cooks Levitan expressed concern about that company's ability to achieve profitability under its current business model.

Maxtor Corp.(Nasdaq: MXTR), down 0.40625 to 9.375, said it will buy Quantum HDD (NYSE: HDD), for about $2.3 billion.

SciQuest (Nasdaq: SQST), down 0.8125 to 4.5, forecast a larger-than-expected third-quarter loss, and revenues at the lower end of analysts' estimates.

Onyx Software (Nasdaq: ONXS), up 4.5 to 22.1875, will beat analysts' revenue expectations for the third quarter, the company said Wednesday.