MIDDAY MARKETS: Cisco, IBM and Motorola lead decline

Techs slid deeper into the trough at midday Wednesday, led by declines in Motorola, Cisco and IBM shares. The Nasdaq lost 161.37 to 3,423.64 and the Dow Jones industrial average fell 147.52 to 10,389.23.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index dropped 24 to 449.72.

Positive news from two bellwethers failed to inspire buyers. Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) fell 4 1/4 to 58 1/2 despite a strong quarterly report. IBM (NYSE: IBM) shed 5 7/8 to 103 1/8 despite its bullish outlook in yesterday's meeting with analysts.

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) lost 14 7/16 to 90 1/1 after Salmon Smith Barney cut its rating on the stock to "buy." Nokia (NYSE: NOK) was down 3 11/16 to 50 3/16, and Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY) fell 1 1/4 to 19 9/16.

Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), down 5 5/16 to 84 11/16, is slated to report after Wednesday's bell. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) fell 5 9/16 to 111 3/8.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) also shed 7/16 to 67 3/8 as investors awaited its response to the court's break-up proposal.

Getty Images (Nasdaq: GETY), down 1 21/64 to 31 3/16, reported a loss of 46 cents a share Wednesday on booming e-commerce revenue. The company also announced the departure of its CFO.

Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE), down 3 3/16 to 37 7/8 after it reported first quarter net income of 26 cents a share, and said it has $800 million in cash for acquisitions and other purposes.

3DO (Nasdaq: THDO) surged 13/16 to 6 1/2, or up to 16 percent Wednesday after it exceeded lowered expectations for the fourth quarter.

K-Tel International Inc. (Nasdaq:KTEL) fell 36 percent, or 1 5/16 to 2 3/8, after it announced it may be delisted from the Nasdaq.

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) lost 4 1/4 to 52, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) lost 3 13/16 to 113 5/8 and America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) lost 3/4 to 54 3/4.