TECH STOCKS: A Choppy SessionTECH STOCKS: A Choppy Session

Given the relative scope of Wednesday's carnage in markets around the world, Thursday's choppy session on Wall Street could be considered a rally of sorts despite further declines in the tech sector. After a poor start, the markets stabilized throughout the afternoon, leading to small gains for the blue chips.

Few tech issues were far into the black, with notable exceptions being Veritas Software, up 5.2% to $35.70 a day after posting strong earnings, and Sun Microsystems, which rose 2.3% to $3.55. A few other notable tech companies managed modest gains. JDS Uniphase rose 0.9% to $3.78, Oracle rose 0.3% to $11.75, and Microsoft rose 0.1% to $28.91 ahead of its earnings numbers. There were numerous significant drops elsewhere, although the results could have been worse if not for a late-day recovery. Cisco Systems fell 2.3% to $20.16, Applied Materials fell 3.2% to $20.65, and Yahoo fell 3.3% to $40.40.

The information 100 fell 1.02 points, or 0.35%, to 290.62. The Nasdaq-100 tracking stock fell 1% to $34.22, on volume of 86.4 million shares.

The Nasdaq took the brunt of the early downward movement, falling 12.56 points, or 0.7%, to close at 1,885.51, while the Dow fell 14.89 points, or 0.2%, to 9,613.13. The S&P 500 posted the biggest gain among the indexes, rising 3.41 points, or 0.3%, to 1,033.77.