MARKET CLOSE: Techs lose momentum in late trading

Technology stocks frittered away some nice early gains in late trading Tuesday as the Nasdaq composite fell 49 points to 3,419.82. The Dow Jones industrial average added 121 points to finish at 10,393.07.

Tech stocks gained ground in early trading on the heels of some positive earnings reports.

"If you sift through all the reports, we have a lot more positives than negatives," said Bryan Piskorowski, an analyst at Prudential Securities. "We've gotten the majority of the bad news out of the way."

FreeMarkets (Nasdaq: FMKT) moved up $5.97 to $55.94 though analysts had mixed reactions to the company's third quarter report. The company's CEO said he's comfortable with progress, and sees growth "steady going forward."

GlobeSpan, Inc. (Nasdaq: GSPN) rallied up $1.88 to $92.25 after it said third quarter income was 18 cents a share, much better than the 11 cents a share expected by First Call's consensus. Shares soared as analysts reiterated bullish ratings Tuesday.

Yahoo! (YHOO) shares fell $1 to $58.63 while eBay (EBAY) and Lycos (LCOS) shed $5.50 and $1.94 a share, respectively. Amazon.com (AMZN) trimmed 44 cents to $29.56 ahead of its earnings report. America Online (AOL) gained 8 cents to $48.02.

Juno Online Services (Nasdaq: JWEB) picked up 19 cents to $3.50 after it topped analysts' expectations for the third quarter, and saw the number of active subscribers rise 9 percent from the second quarter.

National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) plunged $12.69 to $24.25 following its warning that second- and third-quarter sales and earnings will fall short of estimates as sales in its PC and wireless divisions slow. The company cited customers' backlog as a reason for the slow-down.

Intel (INTC) lost $1.25 to $42.06 while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and IBM (IBM) dropped $1.75 and $1.44 a share, respectively.

StorageNetworks (Nasdaq: STOR) slid $12.88 to $70.38 after it said third quarter results easily beat expectations as the company posted a loss of 37 cents a share. First Call Corp.'s forecast was for a loss of 44 cents a share.

Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) rose $2.31 to $47.69 after it topped expectations for the third quarter, posting a pro forma profit of $231 million, or 14 cents per share, well above First Call consensus of 9 cents per share.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) clipped 69 cents to $26.81; Compaq (CPQ) fell 70 cents to $27 ahead of its earnings report; Gateway (GTW) fell $4.41 to $49.99 and Apple Computer (AAPL) closed off $1.44 to $18.94.

Microsoft (MSFT) sawed off 63 cents to $61.50. Sun Microsystems (SUNW) trimmed 94 cents to $117.81 and Oracle (ORCL) closed up $1.75 to $35.81.