MARKET CLOSE: Techs end week on down note

Tech stocks trembled Friday afternoon as mixed earnings reports and queasiness about interest rates troubled the market.

The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 27.16 to 4,590.49. The S&P 500 dropped 20.07 to 1,333.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 230.51 to 9,862.12 to close below the 10,000 mark for the first time since April 6, 1999.

Inter@ctive Week's @100 Index retreated 79.42 to 6,169.07.

IPOs were off to a good start despite the morose markets. DigitalThink (Nasdaq: DTHK) jumped 15 to 29. Hotel Reservations (Nasdaq: ROOM) rose 10 to 26. Chipmaker Intersil Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: ISIL) moved up 29 to 54.

Shares of Echelon (Nasdaq: ELON) rose for the second straight day as the network products vendor's stock increased 16 7/16 to 61 7/16. ON Thursday the company announced its iLon 1000 server completed field tests and received certification from Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO).

Cisco fell 4 1/2 to 132 3/4 along with other widely held technology stocks. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) lost 3 7/16 to 91 5/16. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) dropped 1 to 113 1/4.

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), up 8 11/16 to 70 5/8, and Commerce One (Nasdaq: CMRC), up 34 1/16 to 213 1/16, gained after Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler said they would combine their purchasing networks into one independent company. The new venture is expected to use technology from Oracle and Commerce One.

Priceline (Nasdaq: PCLN), rising 3/16 to 56 15/16, is launching a new service allowing consumers to set their own price for gasoline, and fill up their tanks at specially selected stations.

Speedus.com (Nasdaq: SPDE) gained 3 15/32 to 9 13/32 on news of a patent partnership and new subsidiary, which would establish it in the broadband wireless market.

Shares of Internet Capital Group (Nasdaq: ICGE) were off 12 to 107 1/8 after reporting a loss. CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) dipped 1 7/8 to 117 1/2.

Online advertising firm DoubleClick Inc. (Nasdaq: DCLK) rebounded 15 percent Friday, after Salomon Smith Barney said any weakness in its stock should be seen as a buying opportunity. Shares were up 9 7/8 to 91 13/16.

Investors pounded shares of Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) down 13 3/4 to 58 9/16 after the company reported that sales growth slowed in the second quarter.

Superconductor Technologies (Nasdaq: SCON) picked up 20 5/8 to 67 1/2, continuing a recent rally among stocks of superconductor products companies. Superconductor Technologies on Thursday announced a fourth quarter loss of 42 cents per share, unveiled a new noise filter for wireless communications, and called for development of a streamlined platform for wireless 3G systems.