MIDDAY MARKETS: Techs tread water

The Nasdaq was treading water at midday Thursday, with Qualcomm leading the decliners. The Nasdaq shed 14.09 to 3,783.32 and the Dow Jones industrial average climbed 22.63 to 10,710.58.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index fell 5 to 471.19.

Techs remained relatively unaffected by comments from Federal Reserve officials that suggested the Fed will continue to raise interest rates despite signs the economy is cooling.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Alfred Broaddus said interest rates may still go up despite signs that economic growth was starting to slow.

Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) plunged 9 1/2 to 61 following comments from the company's CFO about the possible impact of a Globalstar (Nasdaq: GSTRF) failure and speculation about the company's business in South Korea. Analysts were mixed on whether a change in manufacturing in South Korea would impact the wireless communications company's business. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) rose 1/4 to 32 13/16.

Conexant (Nasdaq: CNXT) was up 5 to 46 1/2 after the stock got an upgrade from Morgan Stanley.

Digital River, Inc., (Nasdaq: DRIV), down 2 34/65 to 7 33/64, said sales for the second quarter will miss estimates, but earnings should remain on track.

Ailing Canadian software maker Corel (Nasdaq: CORL), down 15/32 to 3 9/16, said it expects to lower than expected revenues and a loss in its second quarter.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) rose 1 1/4 to 71 3/4. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) was up 1 1/8 to 127 9/16.

Among other leading tech issues: Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) fell 1/16 to 65 1/8, Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) rose 5/16 to 91 and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) was up 1 1/2 to 80 1/2.

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) lost 5/16 to 46 1/8, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) fell 2 1/2 to 137 and America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) was up 7/8 to 53 5/16.