US investors remain wary

US stocks slumped yesterday afternoon, but came off their lows just after midday, as an unexpectedly poor financial report from Micron Technology weighed on chips and worries over a possible war with Iraq resurfaced on comments from Washington.

Around 1.25 pm ET, the Nasdaq composite, down 30.36 to 1361.69, lost more than 2%.

The Dow Jones industrial average, down 82.07 to 8453.32, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index, down 10.70 to 892.29, also suffered.

“There's a significantly lower amount of liquidity in this market,” Jennifer Williams, a trader at the Griswold Co. said. “This is a market that seems to be led by both the technology and financial sectors - obviously Micron reporting lower this morning has dragged the entire tech sector down,” she added.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners beat advancers more than two to one as 760 million shares were traded. On the Nasdaq, losers beat gainers seven to three as 901 million shares changed hands.