MIDDAY MARKETS: Technology stocks feel Yahoo''s pull

Internet stocks at midday Thursday struggled to stay out of the vortex created by Yahoo's wreckage on the stock market.

The Nasdaq slipped 31.02 points to 2,192.90, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose 48.03 points to 10,777.63.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index fell 4 points to 213.82.

Shares of Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) fell $4.38, or 21 percent, to $16.563 Thursday, but analysts said the Internet portal's stock is still too pricey considering the company's 2001 earnings will be substantially lower and the fact that CEO Tim Koogle is stepping aside.

Online advertiser DoubleClick's (Nasdaq: DCKL) CEO said the company wasn't experiencing anything as bad as Yahoo, but its shares were off 5 cents to $12.81.

AOL Time Warner (NYSE: AOL) also sought to distance itself from its sagging online compatriot Yahoo with word of expanded advertising deals, rising subscriber rates and a strengthening financial picture. Shares were up $1.10 to $46.40.

CNET Networks (Nasdaq: CNET), the publisher of this Web site, lost $1.34 to $9.22 and issued a profit warning. Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), down 38 cents to $11.88, and Terra Lycos (Nasdaq: TRLY), off 75 cents to $11.75, were also affected by the news.

Metromedia Fiber (Nasdaq: MFNX) slipped 16 cents a share to $9.37 after the company reported a narrower-than-expected loss in its fourth quarter. The company also set a cash flow positive target for 2003.

Copper Mountain Networks (Nasdaq: CMTN) crumbled 69 cents to $3.78 today after its Wednesday announcement of job cuts, hefty restructuring charges and management changes, including the resignations of its chairman and chief financial officer. Analysts stepped in to restate the bad news: Don't expect an improvement anytime soon.

Chipmaker Cree (Nasdaq: CREE), off $6.81 to $18.63, saw its stock lose over a quarter of its value after the company said that fourth-quarter earnings will fall short of estimates, citing an increasingly competitive and slowing market for LED (light-emitting diode) chips. Analysts reacted with a flurry of downgrades.

Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) fell 88 cents to $23.13, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) fell 13 cents to $32.81, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) fell $1.06 to $17.56 and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) was down $1.09 to $59.59.

ZDII staff and Reuters contributed to this roundup.