Techs put brake on market

US stocks seemed lost for direction at midday yesterday as a gloomy tech landscape weighed down market sentiment despite some upbeat news on the economy's services sector and DuPont's bullish forecast.

Around 11.50 am ET, the Dow Jones industrial average, up 27.47 to 7783.08, erased the morning's gains, while the Nasdaq composite fell 7.91 to 1179.39.

Market watchers said the services sector report was the catalyst for a brief spike higher on the Dow, but said the trend still remains a minute-by-minute market for the day's trading session. A stronger-than-expected reading on the nation's services sector for September propelled blue chips for a time. The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) services index rose to 53.9 from 50.9 in August, compared with a forecast for a rise to 51.4. It was a signal of continuing growth, in contrast to the weakness in manufacturing that the ISM reported Tuesday.