Technology shares closed lower on Wednesday after J.P. Morgan slashed its earnings outlook for chip giant Intel.

The TSE 300 composite index inched down 1.94 points to close at 7,864.20, led by a 1.59% drop in the tech-heavy industrial products group.

Positive comments from Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan failed to overcome this morning’s report of weaker than expected U.S. retail sales.

Greenspan reaffirmed his view that the recovery is under way, but he also noted that the growth in business investment remains modest.

In Toronto, gold stocks also suffered losses. The gold sector fell1.88%.

Overall, nine of the TSE’s 14 sub-indexes advanced on the day with consumer products, up 1.64%, and conglomerates, up 1.41%, the biggest winners.

Nortel Networks fell 47¢ to $8.48. ATI Technologies fell 76¢ to $21.15.

Biovail surged $4.09 to $79, contributing to the strength in the consumer products sub-index index.

Market momentum was slightly, as 519 issues advanced and 542 declined. Volume in Toronto was 173.7 million shares.

The S&P/CDNX Composite Index closed down 3.74 at 1,153. Trading was heavy on a volume of 36.2 million shares.

On Wall street, stocks closed lower after retail sales came in weaker than expected, ending an impressive streak of positive economic news dating back several weeks, and J.P. Morgan slashed its earnings outlook for chip giant Intel. Intel shares slid US$1.65 US to US$31.34.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended with a loss of 130.50 points, or 1.2%, to 10,501.85, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 35.09 points, or 1.9%, at 1,862.03. The S&P 500 dropped 11.49 points, or 1%, to 1154.09.

The U.S. Commerce Department said that retail sales rose 0.3% in February, falling well short of the 0.9% increase expected by economists.

It was a terrible day for the Canadian dollar. The loonie plunged almost half a cent. It closed down 0.45¢ at US62.63¢.