NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The Nasdaq composite index tumbled to its lowest close of the year Friday after the latest technology company braced Wall Street for slowing sales growth ahead.
A revenue warning from Dell Computer spread throughout the computer and semiconductor sectors and hit a market already worried about who will occupy the White House in January.
The nation went without a president-elect three days after Americans went to the polls. At the same time, the Nasdaq fell for a fifth session while the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled for the fourth time in as many days.
"I think the election added to the downward movement but it really was Dell that started it off," Sam Stovall, senior investment strategist at Standard & Poor's, told CNN's Street Sweep.
Still, at least one analyst sees buying opportunities amid the sell-off that has pushed all the major stocks indexes lower in November following two months of declines.
"We know that political uncertainties will ultimately work themselves out," Gregg Hymowitz, money manager at EnTrust Capitol, told CNNfn's Market Call. "It's a very good opportunity to buy these stocks cheap."
The Nasdaq lost 171.36 points, or 5.4 percent, to 3,028.99, sending it down 12.2 percent on the week. The losses put the index below its lowest close of the year, 3,074.68 reached on Oct. 12, and beneath the 3,155.95 it finished at 52 weeks ago today.
The Dow slid 231.30, or 2.1 percent, to 10,602.95, bringing its weekly losses to 2 percent. And the S&P 500 declined 34.16, or 2.4 percent, to 1,365.98 and is down 4.3 percent over the last five days.
Treasury securities advanced as investors sought the relative safety of fixed-income securities.
More stocks fell than rose. Declining issues on the New York Stock Exchange topped advancing ones 1,924 to 885. Trading volume reached nearly 1 billion shares. Nasdaq losers beat winners 2,849 to 1,003. More than 1.7 billion shares changed hands. In the currency market, the dollar rose against the euro and yen.
Dell dives
Dell Computer (DELL: Research, Estimates), one of Nasdaq's biggest movers, tumbled $5.38, or 19 percent, to $23 after the company said it expects revenue growth in the coming year to be much lower than it has been in the past.
Dell, in its third-quarter earnings report, met Wall Street profit targets by earning $674 million, or 25 cents per share.
But the company forecast 20 percent revenue growth in its next fiscal year, down substantially from the 40-50 percent rate in years past. Several brokerages cut their sales targets for the computer maker.
With the economy slowing under higher interest rates, investors have been trying to revalue stocks amid this cool-down. Computer and computer-related shares, such as Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) and Apple Computer (AAPL: Research, Estimates), have lost billions of dollars in market value this fall after readying investors for financial disappointments.
Those losses continued Friday, with Intel, which suffered a downgrade from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, falling $4.38 to $37 and Apple losing $1.13 to $19.06.
IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates) shed $6.44 to $93 while Hewlett-Packard (HWP: Research, Estimates) declined $3.81 to $39.13.
In the White House contest, neither Al Gore nor George W. Bush appeared any closer to the presidency Friday.
Bush's lead in Florida, which will award the crucial 25 electoral votes, shrank to 327 votes, according to the latest unofficial tally from the Associated Press. At the same time, the Gore campaign said it might challenge votes in one Florida county, Palm Beach, possibly delaying the outcome for weeks.
"The whole situation with the election is definitely weighing very heavily on the market," Mark Donahoe, international equity trader at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, told CNNfn's market coverage. "It didn't help with Dell lowering guidance going forward."
The confusion over the White House comes after many investors had bet on a Bush win. Tobacco, drug and oil stocks, considered less regulated under a Bush administration, rose in the week before the election as polls showed the Texas governor ahead.
Many of those shares rose Friday. Philip Morris (MO: Research, Estimates) rose $1.25 to $36.88, Merck (MRK: Research, Estimates) gained $1.06 to $91.50, while Exxon-Mobil (XOM: Research, Estimates) dropped 31 cents to $89.56.
All the major indexes have fallen in November after declining steadily in the prior two months. The Nasdaq is down 10 percent this month while the Dow has fallen 3.4 percent in the period. The S&P 500 is off 4.5 percent in November.
Tech stocks haven't been the only losers. Retail shares, which can suffer as consumer spending slows, continued falling Friday. Wal-Mart (WMT: Research, Estimates), off more than 30 percent from its 52-week high, lost $3.44 to $43.69 and Home Depot (HD: Research, Estimates) declined $2.56 to $36.25. 
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