From Stockhouse...You
almost hated to watch the tech sector get
pounded again, but it was basically the
only show on the street. Sun
Microsystems [SUNW] said after
yesterday’s close that it expects to see
fourth quarter earnings in the $0.02-$0.04
range, well under the $0.06 a share
expected by analysts. The backlash today
brought the workstation and server maker
down $2.42 to $16.25. Makers of hardware
chips as well as networkers took the
biggest losses in the tech sector, and were
joined in the basement by biotechs, oil
service firms, brokerages and chemical and
gold companies. Concern about the
economy helped companies selling food,
beverages and houseware, which tend to
do well when the economy is doing poorly.
Morgan Stanley waded into the fray with
downgrades to “neutral” from “outperform”
of Nortel [NT], which fell $1.27 to $13.35,
and JDS Uniphase [JDSU], down $2.23 to
$16.94. The Nasdaq tumbled more than
4%, or 91.04 points, to 2,084.50, while the
Dow fell 166.50 to 10,872.64. French
telecoms maker Alcatel [ALA] said it was
still in the market for a US deal after
takeover talks fell through yesterday with
US rival Lucent Technologies [LU].
Techs Take TSE Down Too
The TSE got sucked down into the tech
whirlpool Wednesday, to close at 8010.40,
down 1.83 percent or 150.01 points. All but
one of the 14 sub-indices tumbled, with the
tech-heavy industrial products group, down
4.7%, leading the dive to the bottom.
Pipeline companies managed to stay
afloat, registering a small gain. TSE stocks
felt the effects of the Sun Microsystems
[SUNW] profit warning and the many
downgrades, including that of Nortel
[T.NT], which fell $1.75 to $20.65. A profit
warning also brought the hammer down on
Cognos [T.CSN], which was downgraded
to “long-term buy” from “buy” at McDonald
Investments. The software maker fell $1.10
to $27.40. |
