MARKET CLOSE: Tech stocks finally relent

Technology stocks finally cooled off a bit Wednesday as the Nasdaq composite chopped off 26 points to close at 3,269.37 on record volume of 1.6 billion shares. The Dow closed off 49 points to 10,883.09.

The October Consumer Price Index showed an increase of 0.2 percent, matching economists' expectations. In September, the gauge rose 0.4 percent, and 0.3 percent in the core rate, which excludes food and energy.

The October core rate was 0.2 percent, also matching expectations.

"It's right in line with expectations," said Barry Hyman, the market strategist at Ehrenkrantz, King Nussbaum Inc. "It justifies yesterday's pre-emptive move from the Fed and the neutral bias, which is more important."

It was another busy day for initial public offerings as Spanish Internet company Terra Networks (Nasdaq: TRRA) soared up 24 27/32 to 38 1/4. Rainmaker Systems Inc. (RMKR) added 10 1/2 to 18 1/2 in its debut while Virata (VRTA) and iManage Inc. (IMAN) gained 12 9/16 and 13 5/8 a share, respectively.

CMGI Inc. (CMGI) jumped 20 7/8 to 124 5/8 after a pair of brokerage firms raised their 12-month price targets. Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) fell 6 3/8 to 206 3/16 and America Online Inc. (AOL) shed 4 3/8 to 155 5/8.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) lost 2 7/16 to 76 1/2. Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) rose 3 to 37 7/8 and Lycos Inc. (LCOS) dropped 1 15/16 to 56.

Priceline.com (PCLN) closed up 8 1/8 to 76 7/8 after it said it will sell tickets for the three major airlines it does not already serve, United Air Lines, American and US Air, and will take a one-time, $1.1 billion charge related to the deal.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) lopped off 1 15/16 to 39 3/4; Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) added 1 5/8 to 23 3/8; Gateway Inc. (GTW) lost 4 1/2 to 77 7/8 and Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) shed 15/16 to 90 1/4.

Oracle (ORCL) rallied up 6 1/2 to 71 as brokers' upgrades touted the software maker's strong sales pipeline and a post-Y2K rebound. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) fell 2 5/16 to 85 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) lost 1 11/16 to 124 15/16.

Intel Corp. (INTC) fell 1 13/16 to 74 3/4. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) gained 1 to 26 3/4 and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) closed off 1 5/8 to 93.