Market close: Dow, Nasdaq take a beating

Investors bailed out of tech and blue-chip stocks Friday as the Nasdaq composite fell 79 points to 3,835.01. The Dow Jones industrial average lopped off 160 points to close at 10,927.00.

The steep losses came in the wake of earnings reports from the likes of Oracle Corp. (orcl)

and Red Hat Inc. (rhat). Even though both companies topped analysts' estimates, investors weren't impressed.

"You are going to see earnings come in a little bit softer than expected for the multi-nationals," said Larry Rice, chief investment officer at Josephthal Lyon & Ross. "You are going to see the cost of energy, labor, benefits -- all that -- cutting into the bottom line." Full story. -- Larry Barrett, Inter@ctive Investor