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NEW YORK — Investors awaiting the release of Intel’s earnings took some bets on blue chip stocks Tuesday, but otherwise traded cautiously in high-tech and Internet sectors. 

When Intel released its results after the market closed, Wall Street’s reaction was muted. After reporting better-than-expected earnings but predicting tough months ahead, the chip maker’s stock held steady – as did PC makers Dell and Gateway. 

Analysts said the reaction suggested that the market had already priced in the effect the decelerating economy would have on Intel’s price. 

With fourth-quarter earnings reports beginning, Wall Street spent the session focused on earnings outlooks rather than specific quarterly results, which in many cases have already been factored into stock prices. 

Pharmaceutical and manufacturing stocks advanced, while technology issues languished on concerns about what Intel’s earnings forecast would look like. 

“We would expect to see investors rotate away from technology stocks, leading up to a major bellwether announcement like Intel’s,” said Matt Brown, head of equity management at Wilmington Trust. “The tone on technology has been negative for awhile. No one knows how deep this slowdown is going to be and Intel’s forecast may give us a better idea of what to expect.” But investors appeared unsure of how to react when Intel’s news finally came, sending shares as high 

Intel traded up to $32 in after-hours trading, after finishing down 75 cents to $31.38. The chip maker’s fourth-quarter results beat analyst estimates by a penny, but the company warned that first-quarter revenues will be down 15 percent because of the soft economy and seasonal factors. 

“Everyone knew that they were going to say the first quarter was going to be bad,” said Gary Kaltbaum, a technical analyst at JW Genesis. “All the bad news had already been built into Intel’s stock price. But there was no good news in this report to make the stock go up.”