New York ? Weaker outlooks for IBM, Bristol-Myers and Best Buy raised Wall Street’s skepticism about a business recovery Tuesday and sent stock prices falling. The beleaguered technology sector endured the sharpest decline, with the Nasdaq composite index sliding 3.1 percent to its lowest close in a month.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 48.99, or 0.5 percent, at 10,313.71. Tuesday marked the Dow’s third-consecutive losing session.

Investors are anxious about first-quarter earnings, which companies begin releasing in earnest this month. While the market doesn’t expect stellar results, it is at least looking for proof that business has improved and is strengthening.

Technology, the last sector most analysts expect to emerge from the recession, suffered the bulk of Tuesday’s selling. IBM fell $1.85 to $101.01 after Goldman Sachs cut its first-quarter revenue estimate, saying in a research note that IBM’s first quarter “got off to a slow start.”

Other tech losers included Microsoft, down $3.08 at $57.30, and Intel, off $1.14 at $30.03.

Among blue chips, Bristol-Myers fell $2.16 to $38.24 the day after it forecast a slump in revenue this year because wholesalers loaded up on its drugs in 2001.