NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks slumped Wednesday, led by technology, as a mixed batch of quarterly earnings unnerved an already vulnerable market.

Tech was dealt another blow after the close, when eBay issued a weaker-than-expected earnings report and profit forecast.

U.S. futures pointed to a weaker open for the stock market Thursday, when fair value is taken into account.

The Nasdaq composite (down 32.45 to 2,073.59, Charts) sank about 1.5 percent Wednesday, and the Dow Jones industrial average (down 88.82 to 10,539.97, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 11.35 to 1,184.63, Charts) index both fell close to 1 percent.

Market-movers IBM, Yahoo! and General Motors all reported stronger-than-expected earnings and all saw their stocks tumble Wednesday. Disappointing results from Pfizer, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lucent and others seemed to confirm the fear that earnings growth is slowing.

The mixed earnings easily trounced any good cheer surrounding the day's upbeat economic reports -- including a mild read on inflation and some encouraging findings in the Fed's "beige book." Not even a slide in oil prices could stem the selloff.

"It seems like there was massive indifference on the part of buyers," said Ned Riley, chief investment strategist at Riley & Co. "There were positive macro developments, but the market didn't react, and then program trading kicked in during the last hour."

After the close, eBay (Research) reported earnings that rose from a year ago, but missed estimates by a penny, and also issued a first-quarter sales and earnings forecast that was short of expectations.

The online auctioneer also announced a 2-for-1 stock split.

The earnings and forecast sent eBay shares down around 12 percent in after-hours trade, and also pressured other Internet issues, including Amazon.com (Research), Yahoo! (Research) and Google (Research).

"EBay was given no mercy after hours," Riley added. "Followers were very dismayed by the guidance and that clearly was no help for the rest of technology."

Stocks rose Tuesday as investors suddenly seemed willing to jump back into the market after a weak start to the year. But the sense of hesitation after the big rally of late 2004 returned to Wall Street Wednesday.

"We came into the year with some selling pressure, we saw a bounce back for two days, and now we're seeing a pullback," said Bryan Piskorowski, market analyst at Wachovia Securities.

Earnings due early Thursday include Citigroup (Research), Continental Airlines (Research), Delta Air Lines (Research) and Ford Motor (Research).

Thursday also brings reports on leading economic indicators in December and the January read on manufacturing in the Philadelphia region.

"We'll keep an eye on the (economic) data, but by and large, I think we're going to be focused on the earnings day to day," Piskorowski added.

Corporate results started flooding in this week, with roughly 14 percent of the S&P 500 reporting.

IBM and Yahoo! reported earnings late Tuesday.

IBM (down $1.80 to $93.10, Research) shares slid despite its strong earnings report. Big Blue reported sales and earnings rose from a year earlier, topping analysts' estimates, due to strong year-end sales and the impact of the weak dollar.

Yahoo! (down $0.73 to $36.45, Research) shares declined even after the Web search engine reported earnings that rose from a year earlier and topped estimates.

A number of other big cap tech stocks fell as well, including Microsoft (down $0.34 to $25.98, Research), Intel (down $0.34 to $22.60, Research) and Cisco Systems (down $0.59 to $18.15, Research).

Motorola (down $1.23 to $16.20, Research) shares slumped just over 7 percent after the company warned that first-quarter earnings would miss estimates. The outlook overshadowed the company's improved earnings report.

Lucent Technologies (down $0.28 to $3.42, Research) sank about 7.5 percent after reporting fiscal first-quarter earnings early Wednesday. The telecom gear maker reported quarterly revenue that rose from a year earlier, but misses analysts' forecasts, and earnings that fell and were in line with forecasts.

Dow component Pfizer (down $0.42 to $24.88, Research) reported earnings that grew sharply from the prior year, thanks to strong sales of its cholesterol treatment Lipitor and other drugs. However, the earnings were nonetheless short of analysts' expectations and shares slipped.

General Motors (down $0.06 to $36.71, Research) reported earnings that fell from a year earlier, but still surpassed analysts' forecasts. Shares were little changed.

J.P. Morgan Chase (down $0.56 to $37.84, Research) reported earnings of 64 cents a share, down from a year earlier and short of estimates. Earnings in the quarter were hit by charges related to its purchase of Bank One last year. Shares slipped.

(For a look at all of Wednesday's earnings, click here.)

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by more than 10 to 7 on volume of 1.49 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by more than 2 to 1 on volume of 2.20 billion shares.

Around 2:00 p.m. ET, the Fed released its "beige book" survey of economic activity in 12 districts around the country. The survey -- which plays a role in the central bank's decisions on interest rates -- showed that economic activity and consumer spending grew in most parts of the country between late November and early January.

The Consumer Price Index posted its biggest annual rise in four years in 2004, according to a report released before the open, while CPI dipped in December as energy prices retreated.

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A separate report showed that the number of Americans filing new jobless claims showed a surprise slide last week.

Another report showed a bigger than expected surge in housing starts in December.

U.S. light crude oil for February delivery fell 83 cents to settle at $47.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

After the close, the federal government released its weekly oil inventory report. Crude oil, gasoline inventories and distillate fuel, including heating oil, all rose last week, surpassing expectations.

Treasury prices inched higher, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down to 4.17 percent from 4.19 percent late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the euro and yen.

COMEX gold fell 20 cents to settle at $423.30 an ounce.