Tech Stocks Take a Plunge

Updated from 4:17 p.m. EST

Stocks closed lower Wednesday, with tech stocks posting deep losses, as Cisco's (CSCO Quote) disappointing sales guidance late Tuesday contributed to prolonging the Nasdaq's recent underperformance.

The Dow fell 34.44 points, or 0.3%, to 10,470.74; the Nasdaq lost 52.07 points, or 2.5%, to 2014.14 -- its largest decline since plunging nearly 60 points in September -- and the S&P 500 declined 9.51 points, or 0.8%, to 1126.52.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 1.62 billion shares, while 2.23 billion shares exchanged hands on the Nasdaq. Decliners outpaced advancers by about 7 to 3 on the NYSE and by about 7 to 2 on the Nasdaq. ...