NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A whopping quarterly miss from Micron Technology and Conseco's blockbuster bankruptcy roiled tech stocks and the broader market Wednesday morning.

Around 9:35 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq composite (down 17.45 to 1374.60, Charts) fell over 1 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average (down 59.65 to 8475.74, Charts) pulled back, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index (down 5.97 to 897.02, Charts) also trended lower.

Chip stocks were dealt a one-two punch after Micron Technology (MU: down $2.28 to $11.00, Research, Estimates) -- the No. 2 maker of computer memory chips -- late Tuesday posted a much wider loss for its first quarter, citing lower selling price for its products. Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy," saying it does not think the company is in a position to benefit from a recovery in DRAM prices.

Dutch chip equipment maker ASML (ASML: down $0.71 to $7.95, Research, Estimates) announced it would cut 1,450 jobs and sell or close its loss-making U.S. businesses in a bid to reach breakeven faster amid an industry slump.

Conseco's bankruptcy filing Wednesday was an ugly reminder to investors of the big corporate implosions that have shaken the markets in 2002. The financial services company filed for Chapter 11 protection after nearly four months of talks with its creditors to restructure nearly $6.5 billion in debt. Conseco, with reported assets of $52.2 billion, becomes the third-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, behind WorldCom and Enron.

Conseco shares were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year.

Meanwhile, investors also await quarterly results from Oracle (ORCL: down $0.23 to $10.79, Research, Estimates) after the close of trading. The software provider is expected to post a profit of 8 cents a share, down from a 10-cents a share profit from a year earlier.

In overseas markets, Asian-Pacific stocks finished lower, with Tokyo's Nikkei index down 2 percent. European bourses traded lower.

Treasury prices rose in early trading, sending the 10-year note yield down to 4.06 percent from 4.11 percent late Tuesday. The dollar slipped against the yen, and was little changed versus the euro.

Brent oil futures slipped 36 cents to $27.56 a barrel in London, where gold declined in early trading.