Wall Street down on technology jitters
November 20, 2009
New York - US stocks drifted downward Friday, with the tech sector in focus after disappointing results from computer maker Dell on the heels of a downgrade of several key semiconductor stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 10.95 points (0.11 percent) in opening trades to 10,321.49 after two consecutive losing sessions.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 10.32 points (0.48 percent) to 2,146.50 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.44 points (0.22 percent) to 1,092.46.
Stocks started off the last trading day of the week on a bearish note after Dell reported late Thursday that quarterly net profit declined 54 percent and revenue dropped 15 percent.
The news coming a day after a Bank of America Merrill Lynch's downgrade of eight microchip companies, including Intel and Texas Instruments, kept the market jittery.
"The technology sector is in trouble...as traders have reacted negatively to Dell's third-quarter earnings report," said Joseph Hargett of Schaeffer's Investment Research.
"What's more, Dell's miss arrives on the heels of Bank of America's downgrade of several semiconductor stocks on Thursday," he said.
Analysts at Charles Schwab & Co said traders "continue to rein in risk appetites" while grappling with whether the economic recovery from recession can continue without major problems.
"This week's dose of data has been hard for the Street to swallow, exacerbating the economic uncertainty and prompting the pullback in risk-taking," they said in a note to clients.
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