Technology stocks rose mildly in late afternoon trading yesterday, having zigzagged between the positive and negative, while the Dow Jones industrial average continued to rise for its fifth straight day, propelled higher by hopes that an interest-rate cut was imminent. Financial stocks like J.P. Morgan led the modest rally in blue chips as players bet the US Federal Reserve would trim interest rates early next year, in order to stop the economy from slipping into recession.

The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index was bogged down by heavyweights like chip giant Intel, down $1-1/2 at $31-1/16, Internet gear maker Cisco Systems, , off $2 at $38-3/4, and software titan Microsoft, down $2-3/16 at $44-3/4.

Fresh evidence of a slowdown in the world's largest economy emerged yesterday. US consumer confidence sank in December to its lowest level in two years, according to the Conference Board, a private research group.