Stocks ended awash in red ink yesterday after warnings of sluggish sales from high-tech high-fliers sent shock-waves through Wall Street that drove the embattled Nasdaq to a new low for the year in the second busiest trading day in the market's history.
Personal computer giant Gateway and speciality chip-maker Altera said their fourth-quarter results would fall shy of estimates, and sent already skittish investors heading for the exits.
The warnings deepened the market's fears that a slowing US economy would pressure corporate earnings, smacking the Nasdaq market down for the fourth straight session this week.
Some 2.6 billion shares changed hands on the Nasdaq, the second biggest in the market's history, pushing the technology-rich Composite Index down 109.20 points, based on the latest figures, or 4 per cent, to 2,597.70, after diving almost 7 per cent to a session low of 2,523. This is a level not seen since August 1999.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 27 points, or 2 per cent, to 1,315.
