NEW YORK — What looked like a promising day on Wall Street turned sour late in the session when skittish investors caused a technology rally to stall.
Stocks closed mixed Friday, with the NASDAQ composite index up 47.36 at 2,645.29. The technology heavy index had risen over 150 points earlier in the session, bouncing back from a big selloff Thursday that saw the NASDAQ briefly trade below 2,524.31, the point at which it had lost 50 percent of its value since setting a closing high of 5,048.62 on March 10.
The NASDAQ closed the week down 259.09.
The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 100 points in early trading but ended the session down 40.95 at 10,373.54 and off 96.69 for the week.
The Standard & Poor's 500, after struggling to stay in positive territory, closed up 0.28 at 1,315.23 and down 26.54 for the week.
The early bounce was caused by bargain hunters who were scouring the technology sector for values on beaten down stocks, said Alan Ackerman, executive vice president of Fahnestock & Co.
But many traders apparently decided to bail out of the market ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the presidential election.
Weakness in a number of blue chip sectors was attributed primarily to a rotation of money out of those areas and into the high-tech arena.
Technology stocks have been pummeled for months as company after company has issued warnings that earnings will fall below expectations. Computer maker Gateway was the culprit Thursday, announcing that holiday sales are down. The notice brought Gateway a prompt downgrade from Bank of America and sent markets reeling across the board.
After falling $1.30 to $19 on Thursday, Gateway barely moved Friday, rising 12 cents to $19.12. IBM rebounded, however, closing up $2.25 at $95.75.
Chip makers, whose fortunes rise and fall on the back of computer sales, also benefited from the bargain hunting. Applied Micro Circuits rose $4.31 to $52.75 and Sun Microsystems gained 88 cents to $76.94.
And a diverse handful of hard-hit tech stocks also fared well, including Juniper Networks, up $7.25 at $131.88, Veritas Software, up $11.38 at $108.94, and JDS Uniphase, up $6.13 at $56.19.
Some analysts saw Friday's early rally as a sign the worst is over.
"The market is deeply oversold," said Al Goldman, chief market analyst with A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. Goldman predicted Thursday's selloff would represent a low point, and that the market is timed for an upswing.
"The market is trying to bottom," he said.