Major Averages Give Some Back

Updated from 4:09 p.m. EDT

Blue-chips relinquished a portion of the previous session's gains Wednesday as investors took profits following another wave of positive earnings news and bullish comments from Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Tech shares were only moderately lower thanks to

Intel's

(INTC) - Get Report

calming earnings report.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 80.54 points, or 0.8%, to 10,220.78. The

Nasdaq lost 5.93 points, or 0.3%, to 1810.86, and the

S&P 500 was down 2.28 points, or 0.2%, to 1126.09.

The selling came a day after the major averages posted big gains. On Tuesday, the Dow closed up 208 points, or 2.1%, at 10,301. The Nasdaq gained 61 points, or 3.5%, to 1815, and the S&P 500 rose 26 points, or 2.3%, to 1128.

Earnings and outlooks continued to dominate the business news, but traders and investors couldn't afford to ignore the latest comments from the Fed chief. In testimony before Congress, Greenspan said the economy is showing signs of a turnaround, but also said the Fed was under no pressure to raise rates.

"The U.S. economy has displayed a remarkable resilience over the past six months in the face of some very significant adverse shocks," Greenspan told the Joint Economic Committee. "But the strength of the economic expansion that is under way remains to be clarified."

Rising oil prices and consumer debt levels are two of the biggest challenges the economy will face as it continues along the recovery process, the chairman said.

Tech investors took encouragement from Intel's earnings, in which the chipmaker met expectations for a first-quarter profit of 15 cents a share. Revenue for the quarter came in at the high end of the forecast. The company expects second-quarter revenue of between $6.4 billion and $7 billion, but the company remained cautious in its overall outlook, saying it still sees no signs of a broad economic recovery. Shares traded up 3.8% to $30.64.

United Technologies

beat estimates for the first quarter, posting a 6% rise in profits as cost-cutting measures helped offset weak market conditions. The company also reaffirmed 2002 guidance, projecting a net profit of $4.32 a share, but its shares fell 4.5% to $69.80.

Motorola

(MOT)

posted its fifth straight quarterly loss Tuesday due to the continued slowdown in telecommunications spending. But the company did beat analysts' expectations, posting a narrower-than-expected loss of $174 million, or 8 cents a share. Analysts were expecting the company to post an operating loss of 12 cents a share. The stock was higher by 8.9% at $16.33.

Elsewhere in the telecom sector,

Nextel

(NXTL)

climbed 1.5% to $6.04 after reporting a rise in quarterly revenue, which was bolstered by a growing subscriber base.

The news out of the technology sector wasn't all good, however.

Veritas Software

(VRTS) - Get Report

beat first-quarter estimates but warned that second-quarter earnings and revenue would fall short of analysts' forecasts. Its shares lost 16% to $30.96.

Among financials, investment banking giant

J.P. Morgan Chase

(JPM) - Get Report

made strides after beating analysts' forecasts by 4 cents, rising 5.3% to $37.27. But bad loans, Argentina's fiscal woes and bad private equity investments made it a difficult quarter.

Merrill Lynch

(MER)

also had a rough quarter, but it did manage to top Wall Street's estimates by 2 cents. Merrill inched up 2 cents to $48.37.

Elsewhere,

Ford Motor

(F) - Get Report

, the world's second-biggest automaker, reported a $108 million first-quarter loss before items, citing declining sales and a loss of market share. But the company offered an upbeat forecast for the second quarter, saying it would top earnings projections by at least 9 cents as production at its plants picks up.

Separately,

Delphi

(DPH)

, a maker of automobile parts, recorded a first-quarter profit and set plans to cut 6,100 additional jobs. The company posted a first-quarter profit, before one-time items, of $123 million, or 22 cents a share, besting analysts' estimates by a penny. The layoffs are in addition to 3,000 job cuts the company has already made in the first quarter.

Pfizer

(PFE) - Get Report

posted first-quarter earnings before items of $2.43 billion, or 39 cents a share, in line with analysts' forecasts. The company, which manufactures impotence drug Viagra, said sales were strong across all product lines. The company reaffirmed guidance for 2002 but said that increased marketing and research spending will limit second-quarter earnings growth. Pfizer's shares were lower by 5.1%.

Office supplies chain

Office Depot

(ODP) - Get Report

said quarterly profits increased thanks to rising margins in its North American business. The company reported first-quarter earnings of $102.7 million, or 32 cents a share, beating estimates by a penny, and up from $56.3 million, or 19 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Nonetheless, the stock was off 8%.

Credit card issuer

Metris

(MXT)

was getting hammered after the company warned that full-year financial results would be lower than expected as more consumers are paying down their debt and spending less. Shares of Metris ended down 31%.

Most U.S. Treasury issues were lower, with the 10-year note down 10/32 at 97 9/32, yielding 5.23%. The 30-year bond was the weakest issue.

Overseas, London's FTSE 100 gained 0.1% to 5264 and Germany's Xetra DAX fell 0.5% to 5319. Japan's Nikkei 225 rallied up 1.7% to 11,544, while the Hang Seng rose 2.8% to 11,091.