MARKET CLOSE: Techs make slight gains

Technology stocks made modest gains Wednesday as the Nasdaq composite picked up 32 points to close at 3,897.51. Blue-chip stocks weren't as fortunate as the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 101 points to finish at 10,687.92.

"Investors are concerned about the picture for profit growth relative to existing expectations, and that produces the kind of nervous trading that we've seen in the last couple of weeks," said Charlie Crane, chief investment strategist at Key Asset Management.

Intel (INTC) shares moved up $2.69 to $63.06. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) lost $1 to $29.38 and IBM (IBM) closed off 56 cents to $124.38.

Sprint Corp. (NYSE: FON) fell $1.44 to $26.81 after it warned that its third quarter earnings will be lower than expected.

ADC Telecommunications (Nasdaq: ADCT) announced it is snapping up Broadband Access Systems for $2.25 billion. Its shares closed off $2.44 to $32.44.

Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) rose $2.25 to $38.56 after announcing it will launch its new B2B exchange, called Dell Marketplace, late next month.

Apple Computer (AAPL) picked up $1.11 to $61.05. Compaq Computer (CPQ) gained 19 cents to $31.19 and Gateway (GTW) lost 80 cents to $59.45.

Informix Corp. (Nasdaq: IFMX) plunged 53 cents to $4.63 after the company cut third-quarter earnings estimates.

Microsoft (MSFT) trimmed 75 cents to $64.25. Oracle (ORCL) gained 63 cents to $79.94 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) picked up $2 to $119.69.

Application service provider Interliant Inc. (Nasdaq: INIT) moved up $2.41 to $11.56 after saying it will cut 300 jobs as part of a plan that it said will boost profitability.

NetSilicon, Inc. (Nasdaq: NSIL) rose $1.50 to $25.50 after announcing a partnership with Red Hat.

Yahoo! (YHOO) closed up $1.63 to $109.69 while America Online (AOL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) lost $1.13 and $3.25 a share, respectively. Lycos (LCOS) fell $2.06 to $67.38 and eBay (EBAY) charged up $10.81 to $76.50.