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NEW YORK — Investors flocked to the safety of blue chips and shied away from the tech sector Tuesday while awaiting the Federal Reserve’s anticipated interest rate cut. 

Analysts said investors put off major high-tech purchases, wanting to be sure the Fed does in fact lower rates at its two-day meeting ending Wednesday. Traders fell back into a recent pattern – bidding up safer blue chips and buying little else – that they’ve followed while pondering the future health of earnings and the economy. 

While Wall Street expected a 0.5 percentage point reduction in interest rates, which would be the second such rate cut this month, the market also wondered how long it would take for the slumping economy and disappointing corporate earnings, particularly in the tech sector, to benefit. 

Investors were also worried by news that consumer confidence slipped in January to its lowest level since December 1996. Consumers’ fears about recession caused the sharp decline in confidence, according to the report by the Conference Board. 

“The consumer confidence numbers were pretty shocking. The deterioration was greater than people had expected,” said Ronald J. Hill, investment strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., adding that the decline in confidence reawakened investors fears about a recession. 

“What it does say is that there is a reason the economy is slowing and it has a lot to do with consumers’ poor outlooks for the future,” Hill said. 

Other issues, particularly in the high-tech sector, were mixed. Analysts said this had partly to with investors’ concerns about the weakened economy. 

“If we go into recession, people don’t want to be long on stocks. But if we avoid recession, this could be a great time to buy stocks,” said Hill, the strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman.  

“That’s the fear and greed people are working on right now.” 

— The Associated Press 

Techs, which have been the most beaten down by slumping growth, again suffered from bad earnings news. 

Amazon.com, which stumbled $1.19 to $18.94, fell 44 cents further in extended-hours trading. After the market closed, the Internet retailer, which beat fourth-quarter earnings estimates, warned that difficult business conditions would crimp profits. It also said it was cutting 1,300 jobs. 

Likewise, Nokia fell $1.71 to $35.28 after the cell phone maker warned earlier that first-quarter profits will be less than expected. 

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 8 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange where consolidated volume was 1.38 billion shares, compared with 1.27 billion Monday. 

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks the performance of smaller company stocks, rose 3.75 to 511.66. 

Overseas markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei stock fell slightly, off 0.1 percent, and Germany’s DAX index finished down 0.2 percent. Britain’s FT-SE 100 gained 0.3 percent, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.5 percent. 

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