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MARKET CLOSE: Techs mixed following lukewarm CPI report

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Technology stocks struggled to make slight gains Wednesday as the Nasdaq composite picked up 10 points to 3,861.22. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 59 points to end at 11,008.39.

July's Consumer Price Index showed a rise of 0.2 percent, above the gain of 0.1 percent expected by economists polled by Reuters. The overall July reading, however, was below the gain of 0.6 percent in June.

Excluding volatile energy and food components, the core CPI in July rose 0.2 percent, in line with expectations.

"The Consumer Price Index was not enough of a bomb to encourage the Fed to hike rates again as there is other data showing we are having a soft landing," said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist at Edward Jones. "This is the natural ebb and flow of the Nasdaq and Dow."

Analog Devices (ADI) shot up 11 5/8 to 94 1/2 after topping analysts' estimates in its latest quarter. BEA Systems (BEAS) rose 8 1/8 to 57 and Lycos (LCOS) gained 3 1/8 to 61 1/16 after they both posted better-than-expected results in their latest quarters.

Yahoo! (YHOO) shares closed up 1 11/16 to 134 while Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) rose 1 1/16 and 5 5/8 a share, respectively. America Online (AOL) closed up 1/4 to 54 3/4.

Kana Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: KANA) flew 5 1/2 to 38 after it announced a deal with IBM (NYSE: IBM), down 1 3/4 to 120 1/4, to integrate its relationship management software with IBM's e-business capabilities.

Shares of Juno Online Services Inc. (Nasdaq: JWEB) picked up 1 3/16 to 6 1/8 after the company announced a bundling deal with IBM.

Microsoft (MSFT) lost 5/8 to 71. Oracle (ORCL) trimmed 1/16 to 81 3/16 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) closed off 2 to 115 3/8.

Chordiant Software (Nasdaq: CHRD) moved up 1 31/32 to 11 1/4 after it announced a $24 million investment in its electronic customer relationship management technology.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) inched up 3/8 to 38 7/16; Compaq (CPQ) gained 3/4 to 32 5/8; Gateway (GTW) tacked on 1/16 to 62 and Apple Computer (AAPL) closed up 1 13/16 to 48 1/2.

Intel (INTC) inched up 3/16 to 68 1/16 and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) closed unchanged at 64.