Wall Street: Wednesday close

SPECULATION over the fate of America's top female executive overshadowed choppy trading on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which leapt 150 points on the latest official rate cut on Tuesday, dipped 36.75 points or 0.4% to 9,554.37 after touching 9,644 earlier in the day to momentarily recover all its losses since the 11 September terror attacks.

The Nasdaq Index, which started the day 8% above where it stood on the day prior to the attacks, rose 2.45 points to 1837.53.

The job of Carly Fiorina, the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, was said to hang in the balance after members of the company's founding families came out against her proposed $20bn (£13.8bn) takeover of PC maker Compaq.

Analysts said 'the vote of no confidence' could jeopardise the deal and lead to the departure of Fiorina, 47, a rising star when she came to HP two years ago. HP shares slid 73 cents or 3.7% to $19.08 after leaping 17% on Tuesday on signs the deal, unpopular with many shareholders, would unravel. Compaq shares, which dropped 5.5% on Tuesday, fell another 51 cents or 6% to $7.99.

'It's simple,' said Dan Niles, tech analyst with Lehman Brothers. 'If the deal goes through, she will stay. If it doesn't, she will probably have to step down.' Shareholders were not scheduled to vote on the merger until next April, but the deal could fall apart sooner if shareholder support eroded, analysts said. HP would have to pay Compaq a break-up fee of $675m should it abandon the deal.

A weak earnings report from wireless company Qualcomm weighed on the tech sector in early trading. Qualcomm shares fell sharply before recovering to close ahead 38 cents or 0.7% at $55.11. Wireless bellwether Nokia shed 86 cents or 3.7% to $22.20.

Microsoft shed 53 cents or 0.8% to $64.25, while Intel was ahead fractionally at $28.29. Dell which jumped on Tuesday on the prospect that the HP-Compaq deal would come unglued, finished marginally higher at $26.25. IBM, which also received a boost from the HP news the day before, was steady at $113.88. Oracle, which released new software, firmed 35 cents or 2.3% to $15.57.

Financial services shares were stronger in the wake of the official rate cut, the tenth since 3 January. American Express gained $1.12 or 3.7% to $31.68, Citigroup was higher by 55 cents or 1.2% to $48.10 and JP MorganChase tacked on $1.05 cents or 2.8% to $38.59.