NEW YORK -- Another aggressive sell-off near the close left the Dow Jones industrials sharply lower after erasing a strong lead, while investors drove the Nasdaq composite lower all day in disappointment over Dell Computer's earnings. Dow falls 101.56;
Nasdaq off 65The Dow Jones industrial average was down 101.56 at 9,195.47, having bailed out of a 77-point loss in the morning and risen as much as 68 points before retreating a second time.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 17.84 to 1,224.03, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 64.96, or 2.8 percent, at 2,248.91.
Decliners beat advancers by a 7-to-4 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,059 up, 1,952 down and 539 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 730.47 million vs. 650.41 million yesterday.
The NYSE composite index fell 6.38 to 580.35, and the American Stock Exchange composite index dropped 7.19 at 688.65 The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies 6.86 to 389.54.
The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was up 11/16 point, or $6.871/2 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield slipped to 5.31 percent from 5.34 percent late yesterday.
Dell's fourth-quarter earnings, released late Tuesday, met analysts' expectations of 31 cents a share. But its revenues didn't grow as much as analysts had hoped.
Technology shares, which have led the market higher since October, are providing the same leadership downward. Other sectors of the market have been unable to support the major indexes.