TECH STOCKS: Technology Issues Lead The Way

Technology proved to be Tuesday's big winner, following a positive earnings report from Texas Instruments. But the telecommunications market's inability to shrug its doldrums held the Dow Jones down following downbeat news from AT&T.

Our InformationWeek 100 index rose 1.2 points, or 0.4%, to 300.18. The Nasdaq Composite rose 15.76 points, or 0.8%, to 1,940.90. The S&P 500 rose 1.35 points, or 0.1%, to end the day at 1,046.03. The Dow fell 30.3 points, or 0.3%, to close at 9,747.64.

The Nasdaq-100 tracking stock rose 0.7%, or 23 cents, to $35.04 on lower-than-average volume of 66 million shares.

AT&T's share price fell 5.1% to $20 as sales fell 8.1% because of a decline in long-distance revenue. The company also said that a review by its outside counsel found that two employees circumvented proper procedure and hid expenses totaling $32 million, or 4 cents a share, in 2002, and $45 million, or 6 cents a share, in 2001.

SBC Communications fell 1.8% to $22 after missing analysts' expectations.