Wednesday April 5 12:24 PM ET

Nervous Wall Street Lower at Midday

By Ian Simpson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were lower at midday on Wednesday as shock waves from a wrenching week still roiled Wall Street.

Analysts said stocks' brief testing of positive ground and then their slide lower was a mini-version of Tuesday's volatility that saw the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq composite claw back from 500-point drops.

The blue-chip Dow (^DJI - news) was down 102 points, or 0.92 percent, at 11,062, after falling as much as 162 points to an intraday low of 11,002.58.

The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index (^IXIC - news) was off 14 points, or 0.35 percent, at 4,134. It is almost 19 percent off its closing high on March 10 of 5,048.62.

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index (^SPX - news) was off 7 points, or 0.49 percent, at 1,487.

Declines headed advances by 1,457 to 1,307 on the New York Stock Exchange, and volume was 525 million shares.

``It's very similar to yesterday's behavior, without the excessive volatility,'' said Barry Hyman, market strategist for Ehrenkrantz, King Nussbaum Inc.

He said worries about the valuation of high-profile computer, Internet and telecommunications shares were keeping the Nasdaq from rallying.

Margin selling also was causing markets to sputter, traders said. Margin selling involves investors who had borrowed money from brokerages having to sell shares to cover losses from this week's volatile trade.

George Rodriguez, senior vice president for equities at Guzman & Co. in Jersey City, N.J., called the market ''opportunistic'' as institutional buyers probed for bargains.

``We believe there are definitely values out there.''

MetLife Inc. (NYSE:MET - news), the No. 2 U.S. life insurer, was up 11/16 at 14 15/16 in its first day of trading after its initial public offering. The stock, priced Tuesday at $14.25 per share in its IPO, was the most active issue on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Investors were waiting for first-quarter results from Internet media network Yahoo! Inc. (NasdaqNM:YHOO - news), which will kick off the earnings season after markets close. Yahoo! was off 5 1/4 at 1 at 162 1/8.

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index (^SOXX - news) was up 1.44 percent and the Chicago Board Options Exchange's computer software gauge (^CWX - news) rose 0.91 percent.

Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO - news), the world's biggest beverage company and one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow average, fell 2 1/2 to 49. Coca-Cola trimmed its earning growth target on Tuesday and said it would take a $400 million write-down.

The American Stock Exchange's oil index (^XOI - news) slipped 0.90 percent.

The Dow Jones transportation average (^DJT - news) was up 2.42 percent.