Intel news pummels techs
NEW YORK (DBC) -- Tech shares fell Friday afternoon after Intel said reduced demand for flash memory chips forced it to postpone the opening of a $1.3 billion semiconductor plant by a year.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 5.8 percent, the High Tech 35 Morgan Stanley Index 2.5 percent. The Amex Computer Technology Index fell 1.7 percent. More broadly, the Pacific Stock Exchange Technology Index was 1.5 percent lower, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surrendered 10 points to 1660, or 0.9 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 40 points to 7806.
Intel fell 2 1/2 to 80 after the announcement. Texas Instruments fell 7 3/8 to 113 1/2, Motorola 3 11/16 to 61 11/16, Atmel 4 7/16 to 25 3/4, Altera 2 11/16 to 42 1/4, Xilinx 1 1/8 to 36 1/2, and National Semiconductor 2 3/8 to 34 11/16.
Applied Materials fell 3 5/8 to 33 3/8, Novellus 4 to 47 3/8, Lam Research 3 1/8 to 35 7/8, CFM Technologies 2 to 26 5/8, and IPEC Technology 4 to 22 1/8 after UBS Securities downgraded the semiconductor manufacturing-equipment makers. UBS said the Asian currency crisis "will lead to steep cuts in capital spending programs at many of the leading Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese firms." |