MIDDAY MARKETS: Microsoft leads tech slide

Microsoft's profit warning, along with downgrades for Sun Microsytems and EMC, accelerated the tech slide at midday Friday. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 111.48 to 2,617.03, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 181.44 to 10,493.55.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index fell 19 to 324.49.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) fell 5.44 to 50.06 Friday after the company issued a profit warning amid a slowdown in the PC sector.

Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) shed 2.5 to 48.44 and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) dropped 1.81 to 33.31.

Shares of Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) rose 1.38 to 28.87 after meeting analyst estimates for its second quarter and receiving positive reviews from analysts.

Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW), down 2.31 to 29.38, and EMC (NYSE: EMC), down 7.25 to 67.38, are being punished for the bad performance of their peers. Bear Stearns lowered its ratings on both stocks Friday citing "concerns about spreading economic weakness," though the companies themselves haven't indicated any trouble ahead.

CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) was off 0.88 to 8.1875 following its first quarter report. While most investment firms reiterated ratings on the stock, analysts questioned CMGI's ability to deliver on its promise for profitability by the end of the fiscal year without significant restructuring.

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) rose 0.31 to 23, AOL (NYSE: AOL) shed 2.93 to 47.07 and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) gained 1.13 to 33.13.

More warnings came Friday from Artesyn Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATSN), which saw its shares drop 8.81 to 15.81 on the news that it will fall short of estimates in its fourth quarter.

Shares of ANTEC Corp. (Nasdaq: ANTC), down 0.5 to 8.25, were sliced by 20 percent Friday on the news that the company now expects a loss in its fourth quarter because of a delay in shipments to its largest customer.