By Benjamin Pimentel
The tech sector edged lower Friday as shares of IBM Corp. and
Amazon.com retreated, ending a morning rally on upbeat reports from
other major tech players.
IBM (IBM) was down 1% midday, while Amazon.com (AMZN)fell
1.4%.
The declines helped outstrip the sector's gains earlier in the
day triggered by positive news from Dell Inc. shares of which rose
sharply after posting better-than-expected results.
Dell (DELL) was up 2.3% a day after the computing giant's
quarterly results.
The chip sector had also helped fuel the rally as shares of
Marvell Technology (MRVL) traded up more than 4% after the
semiconductor maker late Thursday issued a sales forecast that
exceeded Wall Street projections.
Intel Corp. (INTC) completed the tech triple play early Friday
when the chip behemoth raised its third-quarter sales outlook
citing stronger-than-expected demand. Intel was up 3.9%.
The upbeat reports from the two chipmakers also lifted other
semiconductor makers as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX)
gained more than 1%, as other big microprocessor makers advanced,
including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and
Texas Instruments (TXN).
The barrage of positive reports set the stage for a positive
open for the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF).
But the tech-heavy benchmark was off 0.4% early afternoon.
The sector did get a major boost from Aruba Networks (ARUN)
shares of which soared more than 14% after the company reported
quarterly results that beat expectations and its stock was upgraded
to outperform from sector perform by RBC Capital Markets.
The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) was also up
0.1%.