Techs fell prey to profit-taking at midday Wednesday, while blue-chips recovered from their sharp decline. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 57.87 to 4,789.97, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 62.67 to 9,858.70.
The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index fell 12 to 637.41.
On the economic front, investors were awaiting the Beige Book report, the Federal Reserve's regional survey. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's speech before a group of bankers in Texas yielded no clues to monetary policy.
The day's IPOs gained in their debuts. iPrint.com (Nasadaq: IPRT) edged up 1 1/2 after itpriced shares at $10 each. FirstWorld Communications (Nasdaq: FWIS) rose 7 13/16 to 24 13/16 after it priced shares at $17.
Other gainers included Smith Micro Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMSI), which moved up 4 1/8 to 10 1/4 after announcing a wireless e-commerce product.
Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), down 1/16 to 132, and French computer services firm Cap Gemini said they would form a new global Internet consulting, integration and services company. Lucent (NYSE: LU) was down 3/16 to 68 1/16.
Engage Technologies (Nasdaq: ENGA) lost 12 1/16 to 165 15/16 after it reported Tuesday it lost 52 cents a share. According to First Call's corrected estimate, the company beat predictions by 6 cents a share.
IBM (NYSE: IBM), down 3/16 to 102 13/16, announced a move into the business-to-business space Wednesday through an alliance with i2 Technologies (Nasdaq: ITWO), up 18 3/16 to 186 5/8, and Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA), up 9 5/16 to 333 13/16.
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) fell 3/16 to 92 11/16. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC)lost 2 1/8 to 113 5/8.
Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) lost 1 1/2 to 62, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) lost 2 3/16 to 169 3/16, and America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) dropped 1 3/4 to 54 3/4.
Discuss: MIDDAY MARKETS: Techs slide
Be respectful, keep it clean and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion.