TECH STOCKS: Gravity Wins Again

As had been predicted by some late last week, earnings expectations were running too hot. The major indexes headed south Wednesday after weak quarterly reports and forecasts. Lucent Technologies (LU) warned that its third quarter will disappoint; its shares fell 12.5%, or 24 cents, to $1.68. Motorola (MOT) lost 4.6%, or 45 cents, to $9.33, after posting a profit that undershot last year's.

Even good financial news from Intel (INTC) wasn't enough to pull the markets out; the chip-maker rose 5%, or $1.21, to $25.31, after showing a better-than-expected profit.

Other big names showed mixed results. Apple Computer (AAPL) rose 1.3%, or 26 cents, to $19.87; Microsoft (MSFT) rose .9%, or 25 cents, to $27.52; Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) fell .9%, or 20 cents, to $22.70; Cisco (CSCO) fell 1.5%, or 28 cents, to $18.23; and Oracle (ORCL) fell 1.7%, or 22 cents, to $12.41. The Nasdaq-100 tracking stock lost .3%, or 9 cents, to $32.17, on volume of 77.4 million shares.

Our InformationWeek 100 index fell 1.6%, or 4.38 points, to 261.94, and the Nasdaq index fell .3%, or 5.24 points, to 1,747.97. The Dow fell .4%, or 34.38 points, to 9,094.59; and the S&P 500 fell .6%, or 6.33 points, to 994.09.