Test – NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks piled on the losses in early morning trading on Friday as investors buckled under the weight of earnings confessions from Oracle Corp. (NasdaqNM:ORCL - news), the world's No. 2 software company, and SBC Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC - news), the nation's No. 2 local phone company.
The technology-dominated Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) tumbled 77.67 points, or 3.56 percent, to 2,105.70, after losing more than 4 percent earlier. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 122.2 points, or 1.17 percent, to 10,327.94. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) fell 17.79 points, or 1.43 percent, to 1,223.44.
In morning testimony that largely mirrored that delivered to Senate lawmakers last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was repeating his backing for tax cuts but warned a House panel against the possible erosion of fiscal discipline in the United States.
Analysts are not expecting much new to move the market after Greenspan on Wednesday deflated hopes of an early interest-rate cut to jump-start up the soft economy.
Oracle, a Nasdaq heavyweight, joined the pile-up of marquee technology names confessing that the soft economy would drive profits below Wall Street's estimates. Its stock sank $4-3/4, or about 22 percent, to $16-5/8 in frenzied trading.
SBC, a Dow component, warned that quarterly profits may fall short of analysts' forecasts because of costs to upgrade service in its Ameritech unit, and offer new Internet and long-distance telephone services. Its stock slipped $2.48 to $43.02.
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