"It's already begun,'' said Irv DeGraw, research director at WorldFinanceNet.com. ``The chill has been sent throughout the market. I am not sure it will put it on ice, but the hot market is over.'' The technology-loaded Nasdaq composite index suffered its second straight day of sell-offs that affected everything from technology heavyweights to smaller Internet and biotechnology shares.

Indeed, only one of about four initial public offerings scheduled make their debut on the Nasdaq on Tuesday chose to take the plunge into the volatile market. That company, Cabot Microelectronics Corp, managed to pull off a 24 per cent gain on the day.

``It will slow down some deals, but the deals that are perceived as having great promise I think will certainly still get done,'' said Michael Essex, syndicate manager at McDonald Investments. ``I just think there will be more logic or rationale put into their price - where these things ultimately price at and trade in the after market.''

History backs the Nasdaq's link to the initial public offering market and points to a dry period in new issues should the Nasdaq's downturn continue, according to Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at University of Florida.Only about six companies made their public debut in September and October 1998, according to Ritter, amid a market plunge fuelled by a currency crisis in Asia and the near-collapse of bond arbitrage fund Long Term Capital Management. Roughly 100 initial public offerings came to the market in both June and July 1998 before investment jitters swept the world. After market gains have also faded recently. Initial public offerings, which had been notching up average after-market gains of roughly 100 per cent at the end of February, dropped off to about 53 per cent at the end of the quarter, according to Thomson Financial Securities Data.

``This correction or mini-bear market in the Nasdaq is starting to bring sanity into the market in general and in particular the IPO market,'' said Christopher Ely, co-manager of Loomis Sayles Small-Cap Growth Fund, ``Investor expectations are going to be have to be ratcheted down significantly.''

As technology stocks take a pounding, all eyes are turning to the initial public offerings of two "older economy" companies, doughnut maker Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc and insurance firm Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. If the deals reflect the rebound of late in older-economy stocks, the new-issue arena may see more such deals sprinkled amid the technology fodder.

``I think they may be a good indicator of deals going forward,'' Essex said. The break in the Nasdaq comes at a critical time in the initial public offering pool, which has seen a record flood of companies filing to go public.