Hard Rain Soaks Stocks

Another day, another hammering.

Tech stocks, which have been weak all month, dived again Wednesday, showing that prices have further to go before hitting bottom.

According to several market watchers, including market guru Woody Dorsey, such a bottom could be close at hand, perhaps as soon as Friday or Monday.

No rebound was to be found Wednesday, to the dismay of early bargain-hunters. Heavy selling pressure was again experienced after Apple's (AAPL) quarterly sales fell short of expectations. Daring investors who bought the early dip found themselves awash in red by the close.

The Nasdaq Composite, after rising slighty to 2064 at the open, again took the lead to the downside. The tech-heavy index lost another 1.15% to close at 2037.47.

Semiconductor stocks were hit once more, this time after a downgrade of Intel (INTC) by Prudential, which also was bearish on the sector as a whole.

Investors that sought refuge in defensive stocks, such as pharmaceuticals, were among the few able to stay above water. Pfizer (PFE), for one, was up 2.39% recently, after a U.K. court decision upheld the patent on its cholesterol-fighting drug Lipitor.

But defensive issues weren't enough to keep the Dow Jones Industrial Average afloat. The blue-chip index lost 35 points, or 0.35%, at 10,216.91, weighed down by declines in Intel, IBM (IBM), American Express (AXP) and McDonald's (MCD).

As for the broader market, it continued to suffer from a lack of sector leadership as two key market leaders -- energy and homebuilders -- remained in a funk. The S&P 500 finished 0.61% lower at 1177.68. The Amex oil index fell 2%, even though crude oil gained 59 cents to $64.12 per barrel.

The Philadelphia housing sector index finished down 1.6%. Even homebuilding star KB Home (KBH) fell 0.6% after reaching a marketing deal with Martha Stewart Living (MSO), which closed nearly 4% lower.