NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stock investors pulled back a little Monday, retreating from a three-day winning streak on discouraging reports on Coca-Cola, Ford and the technology sector.
Coca-Cola chilled the Dow Jones industrial average after J.P. Morgan downgraded and cut its earnings estimates for the beverage maker, while automaker Ford reportedly may cut between 8,000 and 10,000 jobs in a restructuring move.
In addition to big-cap blue-chip names, techs took a hit on names in the chip, biotech, telecommunications and computer software sector.
The Nasdaq composite closed down 22.28 points at 2,037.10. The Dow Jones industrial average gave back 62.69 to stand at 10,197.05, and the Standard & Poor's 500 lost 7.62 to end the day at 1,164.89.
"It's been a slightly negative day, but after three good days and three good months, I fail to see how this is going to be a significant problem," Larry Wachtel, market analyst at Prudential Securities, told CNNfn's Street Sweep. "It's just a breather today."
Treasury prices closed higher, with the 10-year note yielding 5.07 percent. The dollar was modestly higher against the euro and the yen, showing little response to news that Argentina had devalued its currency. In New York, light crude oil futures fell 19 cents to $21.43 a barrel.
Markets in Asia closed higher, while media stocks contributed to the decline of European bourses at the close.
Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners beat advancers 8-to-7 as nearly 1.30 billion shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, losers beat winners 5-to-4 as 2.10 billion shares traded.
Coca-Cola, Intel among most actives
A pair of positive reports out of the computer hardware sector gave tech a little strength, but weakness in select semiconductor and telecom names undermined the gains.
Robertson Stephens raised its price target and its rating on computer hardware maker Dell (DELL: up $0.03 to $29.62, Research, Estimates), while Compaq Computer (CPQ: up $0.29 to $11.68, Research, Estimates) said it will post a profit instead of a loss in its fourth quarter.
But business software maker Vignette (VIGN: down $1.45 to $4.02, Research, Estimates) joined the list of companies offering a negative pre-announcement, warning that its fourth quarter will miss expectations.
Media conglomerate AOL Time Warner (AOL: Research, Estimates), the parent company of CNN/Money, announced its revised earnings guidance.
"Compaq is a pretty good example of a lot of companies right now, offering 'less bad' results rather than 'good' results," Eric Fry, editor of The Daily Reckoning.com, told CNNfn's Market Call.
Lucent Technologies (LU: down $0.15 to $6.95, Research, Estimates) plucked Patricia Russo from Eastman Kodak (EK: down $0.95 to $27.94, Research, Estimates), naming her the telecommunications company's new chief executive.
Rival semiconductor makers Intel (INTC: down $0.52 to $35.27, Research, Estimates) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: down $0.02 to $19.98, Research, Estimates) are expected to announce their fastest ever chips Monday.
Goldman Sachs raised its 2002 estimates for software maker BEA Systems (BEAS: up $1.05 to $19.90, Research, Estimates).
Fiber optic component maker Corning (GLW: down $0.19 to $10.51, Research, Estimates) said it will reopen four plants it idled in November. While the plants won't be up to full capacity, the move was taken as a sign of renewed demand in both fiber optics and telecommunications. Initially, both Corning and sector mate JDS Uniphase (JDSU: down $0.31 to $9.71, Research, Estimates) rose on the news, but soon tapered off.
J.P. Morgan cut its rating and Merrill Lynch cut earnings estimates for biotechnology company Imclone (IMCL: down $7.66 to $35.83, Research, Estimates), reacting to an expected delay in the company's refiling of an application for Erbitux, its experimental colon cancer drug.
Merrill Lynch also cut its 2003, 2004 and 2005 earnings per share estimates for Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY: down $1.23 to $50.07, Research, Estimates), which co-promotes Erbitux with Imclone.
Outside the technology sector, electronics retailer Circuit City (CC: up $2.29 to $29.75, Research, Estimates) said its December sales at stores open more than a year rose 10 percent from a year earlier.
"We're definitely going to have a strong recovery, but it's not going to be as robust [as people think]," Lara Rhame, economist at Brown Brothers Harriman, told CNNfn's Before Hours. "It's going to be the second quarter before we get any kind of positive gross domestic product growth." 
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