MARKET CLOSE: Techs, blue chips tumble

After surging to record levels yesterday, technology stocks pulled back quite a bit Tuesday as the Nasdaq composite shaved off 44 points to close at 2,872.40. Blue-chip stocks didn't fare much better as the Dow lost 231 points to finish at 10,417.06.

Even though analysts are expecting solid earnings from technology companies in the next few weeks, that optimism is partly responsible for Tuesday's slide.

"I don't think there's anyone left that will be surprised if earnings are strong," said Hugh Johnson, the chief investment officer at First Albany Corp.

After soaring for more than a week, Internet issues came back to earth.

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) lost 7 1/2 to 173 7/8. America Online Inc. (AOL) fell 4 9/16 to 116 ? and Excite@Home Corp. (ATHM) dropped 3 3/16 to 45. Lycos Inc. (LCOS) pulled back 7/8 to 59 7/16 while Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and eBay Inc. (EBAY) lost 3 7/16 and 5 a share, respectively. Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) closed off 7/8 to 32 7/8.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) tumbled 1 3/4 to 92 9/16. Oracle Corp. (ORCL) added 15/16 to 47 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) closed off 2 3/16 to 90 7/16.

Intel Corp. (INTC) closed up 3/16 to 76 11/16 after announcing it will href="http://www.zdii.com/industry_list.asp?mode=news&doc_id=RTN111649860470&pic=Y">team up with mobile phone giant Nokia Group (NYSE: NOK) to jointly develop set-top boxes that integrates the Internet for the European digital TV market. Intel also reports its third-quarter results after the bell.

Motorola Inc. (MOT), which also unveils its earnings this afternoon, closed off 1 11/16 to 94 15/16. Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS) gained 2 7/32 to 74 11/16 after topping estimates in its latest quarter while Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) slid 1/4 and 3 1/8 a share, respectively.

A day after unveiling a new corporate identity, Click2learn.com Inc. (Nasdaq: CLKS) said it had received $10 million in private equity funding from company founder Paul Allen and a unit of Credit Suisse First Boston. Its shares closed up 1 3/16 to 10 5/8.

E.piphany, Inc. (Nasdaq: EPNY) surged up 10 11/16 to 62 11/16 after it said that Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) has joined its growing list of Fortune 1000 and Dot-com customers by signing up to use its E.4 e-commerce software.

Adtran Inc. (Nasdaq: ADTN) was another beneficiary of earnings applause. It reported earnings of 36 cents a share for its third quarter Tuesday, beating First Call's estimate of 33 cents a share on record sales for HDSL and T1 products. Its stock moved up 2 11/32 to 39 1/32.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) fell 1/16 to 45 1/2; Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) rose 1 3/8 to 23 1/4; Gateway Inc. (GTW) lost 5/8 to 51 1/2 and Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) finished up 1 to 67 11/16.