Stocks fell yesterday after brokerage houses soured on Intel and Oracle, reigniting fears corporate earnings will lag despite steep interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

The latest bout of selling, led by key technology issues, sent the broad market measure, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, back into the bear's lair. However, the index edged out of bear market territory, defined as a 20 per cent drop from its peak, by the close.

The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index ended down 104.05 points, or 4.81 per cent, to 2,059.36, with two stocks falling for every one that rose. Sun and EMC were hit hardest.

At the end of last week, the Nasdaq had spiked 32 per cent since hitting its lowest level in more than two years on April 4th, leading to concerns the big rally will quickly run out of steam.

The S&P 500 Index lost 18.83 points to close at 1,224.15.