NEW YORK Spooked by an earnings warning from Microsoft, investorstoday dumped high-technology stocks in a selling spree that quicklyspread across the market.
In heavy trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 240.03, or2.3 percent, to close at 10,434.96. Wall Street was still rattled byfears that corporate profits might be hurt more than expected as thenation's economic growth moderates.
The Nasdaq composite index dropped 2.7 percent and the Standard &Poor's 500 index was off 2.1 percent.
"Aside from some strength in the energy sector, there's prettybroad-based weakness," said Ronald J. Hill, investment strategist atBrown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York.
Investors have been selling stocks on fears about an economicslowdown and falling corporate profits since Labor Day, with the techsector hardest hit.
The expiration of option contracts and futures contracts today, inwhat is called a "triple-witching," intensified the selling, butanalysts said earnings concerns, renewed by Microsoft, wereresponsible for most of today's losses.
Microsoft's warning late Thursday that a worldwide slowdown incomputer sales would hurt its fiscal second-quarter results stokedfears that the effects of a moderating economy will be harder forcompanies to absorb than thought.
Declining issues led advancers on the New York Stock Exchange,with 1,618 down, 1,296 up and 414 unchanged, on extremely heavyvolume of 1.56 billion shares.
The dollar fell against other major currencies in Europe.
The euro was quoted at 89.69 cents in late European trading, upfrom 88.76 cents Thursday.
Other dollar rates in Europe, compared with late Thursday,included 112.43 Japanese yen, up from 112.30; 1.6804 Swiss francs,down from 1.6948; 1.5172 Canadian dollars, up from 1.5136.
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