World stocks: Spreading wave of profit gloom pushes markets down

NEW YORK - Wall St stocks slipped yesterday when profit warnings from such firms as Internet Security Systems dented yet another sector of the beleaguered market.

Blue-chips took a hit after top chemical maker, DuPont, said it would miss earnings forecasts because of the struggling economy.

So far, 1009 companies have hinted at their quarterly results, and 688 have warned they will fall short of expectations

The Dow Jones average index of 30 industrials was 22.61 points down, at 10,571.31 and the Standard and Poor's 500 composite index lost 2.26 points to 1234.04.

The Nasdaq index fell 7.92 points to 2140.80.

* In London, the blue-chip FTSE-100 index closed 76.8 points down at 5639.9, wiping out the previous day's 74.20 points' gain.

The slide came after banks and telecoms slipped and a Dimension Data warning weighed on technologies.

IT services firm Didata slumped 28.7 percent to 189p, after it said it expected discounting by competitors to hit margins in the second half of the financial year.

That warning revived earnings-outlook worries across the market and the

South Africa-based Didata pulled software firms down in its wake.

- NZPA