MIDDAY MARKETS: Techs shrug off warnings

Techs eked out gains at midday Wednesday, despite an ominous warning from SCI Systems. The Nasdaq rose 4.97 to 3,854.48, while the Dow Jones industrial average shed 45.87 to 11,187.36.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index fell 1 to 510.05.

SCI Systems Inc. (NYSE: SCI), down 12.44 to 43.5, said its fiscal first quarter results will miss expectations due to weakness in consumer electronics and personal computer demand. Jabil (NYSE: JBL) was down 6.47 to 58.13 and Solectron (NYSE: SLR) was off 2.38 to 43.88.

Great Plains Software (Nasdaq: GPSI) surged 12 percent, or 2.88 to 27.56, after the company walloped analysts' expectations, with first quarter revenue jumping 68 percent from a year ago.

Internet software maker Inktomi Corp. (Nasdaq: INKT), down 2.16 to 108.84, said Wednesday it will buy FastForward Networks for about $1.3 billion, acquiring its technology for live broadcasting over the Internet.

Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSK), up 1.78 to 38.22, and QVC Inc. are together paying $40.8 million to acquire a 19 percent in Global Sports Inc. (Nasdaq: GSPT), up 0.69 to 9.19.

Savvis Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: SVVS) vaulted up 1.19 to 10.63 on news of a network services agreement with Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT).

Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq: RMBS) was up 5.25 to 82.06 after announcing it had new licensing agreements with NEC Corp. (Nasdaq: NIPNY).

Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) dropped 1.38 to 105.63, Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) fell 1.32 to 42.13, and AOL (NYSE: AOL) shed 1.19 to 54.81.

Among other leading tech issues, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) fell 2.81 to 62.13 after a downgrade from Banc of America. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) fell 0.31 to 67.81, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) rose 0.88 to 59.75 and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) gained 1.12 to 80.