By Rex Crum
Technology stocks put in a dismal trading performance Friday,
falling along with the broad market as investors showed their
displeasure with a disappointing U.S. jobs report.
Nearly every sector leader stumbled into the red after the
latest non-farm payrolls expanded by 431,000 jobs, but only 20,000
of those weren't temporary jobs related to the U.S. Census.
Among leading tech stocks, Dell Inc. (DELL), Microsoft Corp.
(MSFT), Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) and Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) each
fell more than 2%.
Declines also came from Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE), Research In
Motion Ltd. (RIMM), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and Intel Corp.
(INTC).
Apple Inc. (AAPL) fell $2.44 a share, or almost 1%, to $260.64
in advance of the company's worldwide developers' conference, which
starts on Monday.
Not even an analyst's rating upgrade could keep Oracle Corp.
(ORCL) out of the red, as the business-software company's stock
shed 13 cents to $22.71.
Caris & Co. analyst Curtis Shauger raised his rating on
Oracle to buy from above average, saying that the company is
benefitting from the ongoing depreciation of the euro against the
U.S. dollar.
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) fell $1.02 a share, or almost 3%, to
$35.54, and Seagate Technology (STX) was off by 22 cents at $15.73.
The companies are both claiming a piece of the title of No. 1
hard-disk drive maker.
The losses helped drag down the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) by
31 points, or 1.4%, to 2,271. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
(SOX) and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) each rose
1.2%.