NEW YORK, Nov 23 (AFP) - Wall Street shares slid on Tuesday as oil prices surged higher and investors sensed weaknesses in the technology sector.
At midday (1700 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average index was down 42.35 points (0.4 percent) at 10,447.07. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid even further, losing 13.95 points (0.67 percent) to 2,071.24. The Standard and Poors 500 fell 4.84 points to 1,172.40.
While the market worked down to the Thanksgiving Day long weekend, traders were jolted by the rise of oil prices above 50 dollars a barrel on the New York market.
Miller, Tabak and Co. equity strategist Peter Boockvar warned that rising oil prices could stall the typical year-end rally. "Investors may wake up to that (oil at 50 dollars) and forget about the seasonality," Boockvar said.
Leading the blue chip losers was Intel Corp., which lost 3.4 percent, after the world's largest chipmaker was slammed with its third downgrade in a week.
CS First Boston, which cut its recommendation on Intel to "underperform" from "outperform" also downgraded other firms in the sector such as Fairchild Semiconductor, Kemet Corp. and Conexant Systems.
Food group Heinz lost 2.45 percent to 37.45 dollars after failing to meet second quarter forecasts.
McDonald's Corp. was among the rare risers on the Dow Jones average. It jumped 1.80 percent to 29.91 dollars after announcing late Monday that chief executive officer Charlie Bell, who has been battling colon cancer, has stepped down to concentrate on his health.
American International Group climbed 1.94 percent to 64.07 dollars after it said it had made a settlement offer to the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding complaints about its business practices.
Media giant Time Warner gained 2.18 percent to 17.84 dollars after the Washington Post reported that it was close to an agreement with the SEC over accounting irregularities at its AOL Internet subsidiary under which it would pay a 750 million dollar fine.
Many New York traders were expected to start leaving for a long Thanksgiving weekend on Wednesday. The stock exchange will be closed on Thursday and only have a half day trading on Friday.
11/23/2004 17:33 GMT - AFP