NEW YORK -- Major stock indexes fell yesterday, with Intel Corp., 3Com Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. showing the way, on concern that waning demand and increased competition will hurt profit in the computer and networking industries.
The Nasdaq composite index dropped 36.15, to 2,259.03. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 27.17, to 9,297.61.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 10.66, to 1,225.50.
All three market measures surrendered gains in late trading.
Elsewhere on the broad market, the Russell 2,000 index, a benchmark of small-cap stocks, rose 0.04, to 394.43; the American Stock Exchange composite index advanced 0.92, to 699.21; and the S&P; 400 midcap index added 2.01, to 359.82.
The Sun-Bloomberg Maryland index of the top 100 Maryland stocks slipped 0.19, to 181.78.
Declining shares outnumbered advancers by a 15-to-14 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where about 753.7 million shares changed hands.
Intel, the most active issue in U.S. trading, fell $7.25, to $109.8125, bringing its losses in the past five trading days to 18 percent. Analyst Jonathan Joseph at NationsBanc Montgomery Securities downgraded the world's largest computer-chip maker to "hold" from "buy," citing weak processor demand, sluggish earnings growth, a slow transition to the Pentium III processor and order cancellations. On Monday, a Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette analyst downgraded Intel.
Texas Instruments Inc. fell $5.75, to $86.50.
Micron Technology Inc., which makes memory chips, dropped $3.25, to $54.25. Its Micron Electronics Inc. subsidiary, the No. 3 direct seller of personal computers, fell $2.625, to $11.8125, after warning that earnings won't meet expectations because of falling PC sales.
Trading of 3Com shares was halted after it fell $3.6875 on concern that the No. 2 networking company's fiscal third-quarter profit may lag behind forecasts because of price cuts and steeper competition. The company declined to comment on the halt, or on speculation that it may warn about its earnings.
Hewlett-Packard Co. gained $2.75, to $68.625, after the company said it will separate its computer and printing business from its medical devices and electronic testing equipment unit.
Caterpillar fell $1.75, to $47.43.75. Union Carbide rose $3.125, to $44.8125, on persistent takeover rumors.
UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, rose $3.5625, to $65.5625; AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines, added $1.75, to $57.875; Delta Air Lines Inc. gained $2.6875, to $65.625; and Southwest Airlines Co. climbed $1.25, to $31.375.
Whirlpool Corp. climbed $2.75, to $43.75, after the world's top maker of large appliances said it expects double-digit increases in earnings for the first quarter and full year. The company also said it will buy back as much as $250 million in stock.
Xylan Corp. jumped $8.8125, to $35.75, after France's Alcatel SA agreed to buy it for $2 billion. Alcatel, Europe's No. 2 phone-equipment maker, owns 6 percent of the maker of networking equipment, and is buying the rest to increase its business of linking computers to phone networks and the Internet.
VISX Inc. soared $19.25, to $79.75, after the maker of laser equipment used to correct vision problems said it expects to earn 51 cents to 55 cents a share in the first quarter, well above the 36-cent average estimate of analysts.
Citrix Systems Inc. gained $2, to $80.625, after the software maker declared a 2-for-1 stock split about March 25 for shareholders of record March 17.
LSI Logic Corp. rose $1, to $26.25, after the maker of specialty semiconductors said Sony Corp.'s new PlayStation video game console will include one of its chips for uses such as playing over the Internet.
Pub Date: 3/03/99