Stocks cut their losses in late afternoon trading yesterday but stayed mostly in negative territory, led by the Nasdaq market, after more high-tech companies warned the slowing economy would bite into their earnings.

Sun Microsystems and Motorola set off the fury of selling after they announced their corporate report cards would be less than stellar, confirming investors' worst fears about the earnings picture.

But the market trimmed its losses in late afternoon trading amid talk that Bear Stearns chief economist Wayne Angell had said there was a 60 per cent chance that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by a half a percentage point early next week.

Motorola, the world's second-biggest wireless handset maker, with substantial operations in the Republic, said a sharp falloff in orders could lead to a first-quarter loss.

Investors also expressed disappointment with news from Sun Microsystems that the business hardware maker's third-quarter operating earnings and sales would be well below previous forecasts.