MIDDAY MARKETS: Markets still down on Fed news

The markets remained sullen over the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut at midday. The Nasdaq lost 10.53 points to 1,846.91, and the Dow Jones industrial average fell 136.60 points to 9,584.16.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index rose 4 points to 181.74.

The Federal Reserve's half-percentage-point cut to interest rates continued to disappoint investors Wednesday. Some had been expecting a deeper cut of three-quarters of a percentage point.

In new economic developments, the Consumer Price Index, the main gauge of U.S. inflation , rose more than expected in February, up by 0.3 percent, both overall and in the closely watched "core" index.

DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK) announced that it is overhauling its media business and sloughing off 10 percent of employees in the process. The Internet marketer said the moves will increase efficiency and customer service.

Citrix Systems (Nasdaq: CTXS), down $1.13, said it will buy Sequoia Software (Nasdaq: SQSW), up 35 cents to $5.53, in an all-cash transaction valued at $184.6 million, or $5.64 per share. It also confirmed previous financial projections, but said the deal will trim 2001 earnings.

Shares of PurchasePro.com (Nasdaq: PPRO), down $1 to $6.53, tumbled after a Prudential Securities analyst cut his rating, citing a low conversion rate of registered users into paying customers.

Networking equipment company 3Com (Nasdaq: COMS), up 19 cents to $6.41, missed previously lowered expectations for its third fiscal quarter Wednesday, posting a net loss of $122.8 million, or 36 cents per share, on sales of $629.6 million.

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) was unchanged at $10.25, AOL Time Warner (NYSE: AOL) rose 13 cents to $38.92 and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) shed 6 cents to $13.88.

Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) rose 38 cents to $19.44, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) increased 5 cents to $25.13, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) stepped up 47 cents to $14.84 and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) was down $1.38 to $51.31.

ZDII staff and Reuters contributed to this roundup.