Wall Street ends lower
Nov 21, 2009
NEW YORK - US STOCKS drifted downward for a third straight session on Friday, with the tech sector in focus after weak results from computer maker Dell on the heels of a downgrade of key semiconductor stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 13.98 points (0.14 per cent) in closing trades to 10,318.46 on volatile trading.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 11.92 points (0.55 per cent) to 2,146.04 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.53 points (0.32 per cent) to a provisional close of 1,091.37.
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 per cent.
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.
Joseph Hargett of Schaeffer's Investment Research said the technology sector was 'in trouble' as the market opened as 'traders reacted negatively' to Dell's third-quarter earnings report which missed expectations. -- AFP
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