Market Movers: Tech Stocks Keep Sliding

Mar 02 2001

In another session of wild price swings, this time it was the bears that came out on top. The Nasdaq, which plunged at opening only to gain back all of its losses and then some by midday, sagged in the afternoon and finished the day down 65.75 points, or just over 3 percent, to 2117.62. In the end, tech investors couldn't get around Oracle 's late-Thursday earnings warning.

"Oracle weighed down the market a lot," said Todd Clark, head of trading at W.R. Hambrecht. "I don't know why it was so volatile today. But we aren't out of the woods yet."

The Dow Jones, which at one point was down 150 points, roared back to finish with a gain of 16.17 points, or 0.15 percent, to 10466.31. The S&P 500 fell 7.19 points, or 0.58 percent, to 1234.04. The Industry Standard 100 slumped 18.74 points, or 4.07 percent, to 441.47.

Oracle shares plunged $4.50, or 21.05 percent, to $16.88, following the company's announcement late Thursday that earnings for the fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28 would miss Street estimates by 2 cents a share. Other software stocks shared Oracle's pain: Microsoft fell $2.67, or 4.5 percent, to $56.69, while Siebel Systems fell $8.50, or 19.08 percent, to $36.11.

SBC Communications gained $1.07, or 2.35 percent, to $46.57, despite issuing an earnings warning.

Cell phone maker Nokia rose 51 cents, or 2.17 percent, to $24.05. The company announced it had signed a major contract for third-generation cellular equipment.

JDS Uniphase fell $2.89, or 9.78 percent, to $26.39, following bearish analyst comments.