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NEW YORK — Wall Street made an expected retreat Wednesday, sending technology and blue chip stocks sliding on a mix of earnings worries and profit-taking from the Dow Jones industrials’ big three-day rally. 

The technology-focused Nasdaq composite index fared the worst, falling 6 percent on a profit warning from Nortel Networks that stoked fears of more problems ahead for networking and telecom stocks. 

“We had broad-based selling pressures in technology today,” said Tom Galvin, chief investment officer at Credit Suisse First Boston. “Clearly, some people are still very worried about this sector and how it’s going to perform in the months ahead.” 

But some giveback was also to be expected after the market’s rally. 

“You’ve had a 10 percent run-up in the indexes since last week,” Galvin said. 

The selling was no surprise. The warning from Nortel after regular trading ended Tuesday sent tech stocks down in the market’s extended session, and set Wall Street up for Wednesday’s selling. 

Nortel, which also announced another 5,000 job cuts for a total of 15,000 planned this year, fell 16 percent, down $2.76 at $14. The news hurt other networking stocks, including Cisco Systems, which tumbled $2.38 to $15.75, a 13 percent drop. 

Investors also pummeled Palm, which fell $7.44 to $8.06 for a 48 percent loss, after the handheld computer company announced job cuts and reduced its quarterly forecast. News of job cuts at Disney sent its stock down 84 cents to $28.36. 

Stocks began recovering late last week from a 10-session slump that included a 1,468-point drop in the Dow. A better-than-expected consumer confidence report Tuesday, which suggested consumer spending might be able to lift the economy out of its malaise, added to buyers’ enthusiasm. 

But by Wednesday, pessimism had reasserted itself on Wall Street, as investors realized weak corporate earnings might continue for a while. 

— The Associated Press 

“The desperation was last week. Now we’re finally getting to the acceptance phase. The casino has closed,” said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter. “You have to let nature take its course. There may be no magic bottom and this may take a while.” 

The Russell 2000 index fell 10.68 Wednesday to 442.20. 

Declining issues led advancers more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume came to nearly 1.52 billion, compared with 1.59 billion Tuesday. 

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.9 percent. Germany’s DAX index slid 2.0 percent, Britain’s FT-SE 100 lost nearly 2.0 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 1.6 percent. 

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