EMC and AMD lead techs south
Published: 09 Jul 2001 14:07 BST
The Nasdaq lost almost 4 percent at midday Friday, as EMC and Advanced Micro Devices led technology stocks south.
The Nasdaq composite index slid 74.12 points to 2,005.99, and the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 234.02 points to 10,245.84.
In economic news, the US unemployment rate rose to 4.5 percent in June as 114,000 Americans lost their jobs, according to a report from the Labour Department.
That represented 70,000 more job losses than economists expected outside the farm sector, a sign that the economic slump is deepening. On a positive note, the jobless rate in June was better than the 4.6 percent economists anticipated.
EMC's shares fell $7.73 to $22.30 after it missed estimates by such a wide margin that analysts questioned the storage bellwether's business model.
The whole storage sector suffered, as did other enterprise-related stocks such as Sun Microsystems, the Nasdaq's most actively traded loser, down $1.30 to $13.87. CNET's Storage index was down a whopping 23.73 percent.
Advanced Micro Devices plunged $6.89 to $21.75 after the chipmaker said second-quarter sales will miss estimates by a wide margin. Analysts speculated that the problems behind the shortfall -- price pressure and weak demand for flash memory chips -- will be temporary. Competitor Intel dropped $1.03 to $28.81.
WebMethods issued its warning Friday morning. The software company said its loss will be wider than expected and revenue will miss targets in its first quarter.
Among technology bellwethers, Microsoft fell $1.36 to $67.15; Oracle lost 51 cents to $18.42, and Cisco Systems fell 58 cents to $17.
Amazon.com fell 27 cents to $15. AOL Time Warner dropped 88 cents to $50.48, and Yahoo shed 92 cents to $18.27.
Staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
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