Stocks Tumble on Slowdown Fears

Stocks resumed their downtrend on Wednesday, falling sharply on fears of an economic slowdown and rising tensions in the Mideast.

With earnings warnings from the likes of EMC , AMD , Lucent and 3M already weighing on the market, investors were reluctant to hold stocks before earnings season swings into high gear next week.

Intel , which will report its quarterly earnings July 19, led the Dow lower with a 4% loss.

Network Appliance and Apple were also big losers in the tech sector. NetApp fell 7% on accounting concerns, while Apple lost 5% on negative comments from Credit Suisse. Dell dropped 4% on a UBS downgrade.

Microsoft slumped 2% on an EU antitrust fine.

The Nasdaq tumbled 38 to 2090, the S&P 500 fell 14 to 1258, and the Dow lost 121 to 11,013. Volume declined to 2.25 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.86 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 22-10 on the NYSE, and 22-7 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 78% on the NYSE, and 79% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 64-119 on the NYSE, and 49-105 on the Nasdaq.

Infosys and Intergraph rose on their results.

Secure Computing plunged on a warning and acquisition. Tut Systems also fell on a warning.