X

MIDDAY MARKETS: Nasdaq falls below 4,000

2 min read

A third session of losses brought the Nasdaq below 4,000 again at midday Wednesday as earnings failed to pull techs out of the doldrums. The Nasdaq dropped 148.23 to 3,907.67, and the Dow Jones industrial average climbed 36.92 to 11,324.00.

The Inter@ctive Week @NetIndex fell 28 to 512.83.

Iona Technologies (Nasdaq: IONA) fell 1/8 to 64 7/8 after it reported first quarter earnings of 14 cents a share Wednesday, topping First Call's expectation of 10 cents a share.

E*Trade (Nasdaq: EGRP), down 1/4 to 23 3/16 said it handily topped First Call consensus estimates and reached break-even on an operating basis. Ameritrade (Nasdaq: AMTD), down 7/16 to 18 13/16, is slated to report results Thursday.

Check Point Software (Nasdaq: CHKP), fell 2 9/16 to 166 15/16, and beat consensus estimates by a nickel a share Wednesday with first quarter earnings of 40 cents a share.

Women.com Networks (Nasdaq: WOMN), down 1/16 to 5 7/8lost 16 cents a share for its first quarter, an improvement over First Call's expected loss of 19 cents a share. iVillage (Nasdaq: IVIL)was down 23/64 to 11 9/64.

Even IPOs weren't getting much attention. Corillian (Nasdaq: CORI) was down 13/32 to 7 19/32 and DDI Corp (Nasdaq: DDIC) was down 1 1/4 to 10. Asiacontent.com (Nasdaq: IASIA) was holding even at its opening price of 14.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), the most active stock on the Nasdaq, fell 4 1/2 to 79 3/8. Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) dropped 2 1/2 to 52 15/16.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) shed 3 15/16 to 126 13/16. AMD (NYSE: AMD), expected to report results after the market closes, was down 1 1/16 to 69 9/16.

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) lost 3 3/4 to 59 5/8, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) rose 1 7/16 to 134 15/16 and America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) lost 2 7/8 to 62 5/8.