MARKET CLOSE: Uncertainty pushes stocks lower

Blue-chip and technology stocks tumbled again Friday as Wall Street awaits the outcome of the still undecided presidential election. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 231 points to 10,602.95 while the Nasdaq lost 171 points.

Most analysts said that once the election is decided, the market will return to some semblance of normalcy.

"Again, we come into a situation where there's no president," said Larry Rice, chief investment officer at Josephthal Lyon & Ross. "That's compounded, of course, by some downgrades today and some disappointing revenue projections for Dell."

Dell shares fell $5.38 to $23 after it met analysts' third-quarter earnings estimates but cut its sales estimates.

Other PC stocks were tainted as Apple Computer (AAPL) lost $1.13 to $19.06 while Gateway (GTW) and Compaq (CPQ) closed off $6.46 and $1.41 a share, respectively.

Microsoft (MSFT) fell $3.50 to $67.38. Oracle (ORCL) dropped $1.75 to $25.44 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) closed off $8.44 to $89.19.

Intel (INTC) shares fell $4.38 to $37 after a downgrade from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shed 88 cents to $20.13 and IBM (IBM) slid $6.44 to $93.

Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) said that it will buy Active Voice (Nasdaq: ACVC) for $296 million in stock. Active Voice, who also reported better-than-expected third quarter results, closed up $4.13 to $19.06. Cisco finished off $3.19 to $50.06.

Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) saw European patents for its Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology upheld against a challenge from Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Its shares ended up $1.25 to $73.94.

Yahoo! (YHOO) closed off $2.38 to $56.44. America Online (AOL) dipped $1.97 to $50.71 while Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) closed off $1.19 and $2.69 a share. CMGI (CMGI) lost $2.31 to $15.63.

Netpliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: NPLI) shed 25 cents to $1.31 after it fell short of analyst estimates. The company also announced it would reorganize and slash its workforce by 38 percent.