TECH STOCKS: Drifting LowerTECH STOCKS: Drifting Lower

Our indexes trembled a bit Wednesday, slipping slightly into the red on a handful of weak third-quarter earnings forecasts.

Tech stocks were mostly down. Motorola (MOT) fell 2.6%, or 28 cents, to $10.65; Oracle (ORCL) fell 2.2%, or 27 cents, to $12.26. Microsoft (MSFT) fell 1.4%, or 40 cents, to $28.50; PeopleSoft (PSFT) fell 0.9%, or 17 cents, to $18.91, and Cisco Systems (CSCO) fell 0.7%, or 15 cents, to $21.14. The Nasdaq-100 tracking stock was down 0.6%, or 20 cents, to $34.20, on volume of 78.5 million shares.

At the closing bell, the information 100 was down 0.3%, or 0.73 point, to 289.07, and the Nasdaq index was down 0.2%, or 4.15 points, to 1,883.1. The Dow fell 0.2%, or 21.69 points, to 9,545.65, and the S&P 500 fell 0.3%, or 3.35 points, to 1,025.97.