Blue-Chip Losses Drag Down Dow

Stocks ended mixed on Thursday, as computer-related shares dropped after a semiconductor maker warned of disappointing earnings.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 10.12 at 5,095.80.

Despite the loss in the blue-chip index, advancing issues had a slight 8-to-7 lead on decliners on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume exceeded Wednesday’s pace but remained light at 288.48 million shares as of 4 p.m. Many investors are sidelined during the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

Technology stocks were aggressively sold after Cirrus Logic, a computer-chip maker, warned late Wednesday that third-quarter earnings would be between 13 cents and 19 cents a share, far short of consensus estimates of 44 cents.

The Fremont, Calif., company blamed slow sales of home personal computers and softer business conditions in Taiwan.

Cirrus shares skidded 7 points to 19-7/8 in leading Nasdaq volume, dragging other computer-related shares with it.

Stocks were also under pressure as investors sold holdings to book profits before year-end.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially Thursday:

NYSE

Barnes & Noble rose 1-1/2 to 32-3/8.

PaineWebber reportedly upgraded the book retailer’s stock to “buy” from “attractive.”

Micron Technology fell 1-1/2 to 40-1/4.

Compaq fell 2 to 46-3/4.

IBM fell 1-7/8 to 90-1/8.

Texas Instruments fell 1-1/4 at 51-1/4.

Cypress Semiconductor fell 1/8 to 13.

Semiconductor and computerrelated stocks fell after Cirrus Logic, a chip maker, warned of disappointing fourth-quarter earnings and cited slower sales of home personal computers.

NASDAQ

Cirrus Logic fell 7 to 19-7/8.

The computer chip maker warned late Wednesday that its third-quarter earnings would be far below analysts’ previous estimates.

Cordis Corp. rose 3-1/2 to 98-3/4.

The stock skidded 11-1/4 Wednesday after Johnson & Johnson extended to Jan. 22 a due diligence review of its proposed acquisition of Cordis. The announcement prompted fears that the $1.8 billion transaction would collapse.

AMEX

Echo Bay Mines, unchanged at 10-1/4.

The company has gone from being “a darling of gold investors to a fallen star,” Everen Securities Inc. analyst Vahid Fathi said in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal. Fathi said the company “won’t be profitable for the rest of this century.”