Bay Area companies are on a rough ride in the market today, with VMWare (VMW) plummeting almost 13 percent in midafternoon trading and both Cisco Sytems, Inc. (CSCO) and Oracle Corp. (ORCL) falling almost 10 percent.

On the upside, The Gap, Inc. (GPS) posted an uptick of more than 5 percent, followed by PG&E (PCG), which was up more than 3 percent. 

The market continued to plunge after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned he expects a raft of economic troubles will cause business growth to slow . Reuters reported that a lackluster forecast from Cisco Systems Inc. made investors wary of technology stocks, according to the Associated Press.

The Dow insutrial average had dropped more than 130 points by midafternoon, with the Nasdaq down more than 75 points/ The S&P 500 dropped almost 14 points.