MIDDAY MARKETS: Greenspan inspires techs

The Nasdaq rose at midday Tuesday despite losses from Intel, Texas Instruments and Broadcom, after hints that more interest rate cuts may be on the way. The Nasdaq rose 48.40 points to 2,538.06 and the Dow Jones industrial average was up 54.65 points to 11,001.42.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index rose 8 points to 271.71.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Tuesday the U.S. economy faces a sharp slowdown in the coming year as businesses work off unsold inventories and consumers appear less confident about the future. Investors took that as a sign that the Fed, which reduced rates twice last month, could cut interest rates again.

CS First Boston analyst Charles Glavin handed out downgrades to three big-name technology stocks on Tuesday, citing concerns over withering demand and decreased earnings visibility. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) was off 38 cents to $34.18, Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) rose 6 cents to $80.50 and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) went up 5 cents to $38.20.

Fiber-optic network company Williams Communications Group (NYSE: WCG), unchanged at $17.10, said that it expects first-quarter recurring network revenue to grow between 112 percent to 115 percent over last year.

PurchasePro (Nasdaq: PPRO) gained $2.03 to $17.94 Tuesday as analysts sang the praises of the business-to-business company's fourth quarter and said its critics can eat humble pie.

Internet retailer Buy.com (Nasdaq: BUYX) rose 13 cents to 69 cents after it said its chief executive and chief financial officers have resigned from the company, which is still pushing to achieve profitability.

Internet-based job recruiting company HotJobs.com (Nasdaq: HOTJ), up $0.19 to $8.44, reported a wider fourth-quarter loss and gave a cautious revenue outlook for the first quarter and 2001 amid a sluggish economic environment.

Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) rose 56 cents to $30.13, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) grew 75 cents to $23.75 and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) gained $1.81 to $60.56.

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) increased 38 cents to $14.88, AOL (NYSE: AOL) rose $1.20 to $48.73 and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) gained 88 to $29.37.