Market Fell; Blame Dell
Dell Computer joined the earnings-warning club after the bell Wednesday, and
that sent a chill through the technology sector Thursday, as the Nasdaq gave
back 1.6% to nearly wipe out the previous day’s gain.
The Dow lost 0.6% for the day because of big declines in Hewlett Packard
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and IBM
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S&P 500 positive by 0.1%.
Nasdaq volume lightened by about 10% from Wednesday’s levels, as 1.85 billion
shares traded, while NYSE volume picked up by 7%, with 1.17 billion shares
changing hands.
“I still think it’s a tale of two markets. It’s the
listed market, and it’s the Nasdaq. The Nasdaq is showing the weaker
performance, and I don’t think the correction is over with, although it
shouldn’t be significantly lower than where it is,” said Bernadette Murphy, Chief Market Analyst,
Kimelman & Baird.
“Both the Composite and Nasdaq 100 broke through important support
areas, and that usually is the pre-curser of lower levels. The over-the-counter
market has really been in a bear market, and bear markets tend to end with heavy volume on the downside for a washout before they respond. We haven’t had that
yet,” she added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq sank 51.37 to 3471.73, the Dow
fell 60.30 to 10,724.18, and the S&P 500 gained 1.89 to 1436.21.
Top sectors were health care
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up 2.1%, and pharmaceuticals
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On the downside were Internets
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down 3.3%, and semiconductors
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Dell
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3/16 and touched levels not seen since October, 1998.
Tech winners that avoided the selloff included i2 Technolgies
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6.3%, Verisign
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Point Software
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Broker/dealers were strong, with solid gains from Goldman Sachs
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5.0%, Raymond James
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Stanley Dean Witter
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Looking ahead, traders await the August employment report which is due out
Friday at 8:30 AM ET. Analysts expect to see 230,000 new jobs, a 4.1%
unemployment rate, and a 0.3% increase in the average hourly wage.