Apple Drops Stocks

A report that Apple's much-anticipated iPhone may be delayed a few months gave investors an excuse to take profits Thursday.

Apple shares fell 3% after CIBC analysts said the iPhone might not show up until the second quarter of 2007, a few months later than expected.

Coupled with nervousness ahead of Friday's unemployment report, the news was all traders needed to play it safe for the day.

Corning fell 4% on fears of an LCD glut.

Redback shares surged 12% on a broadband contract win in China.

Tellabs fell on a JP Morgan downgrade, while Level 3 and Alcatel Lucent gained ground.

ON Semi and Techwell gained on presentations at the Lehman Brothers technology conference, while Motorola lost ground on its presentation.

Akamai added 7% after a Cowen upgrade earlier in the week.

Cree lost 13% on a warning.

Research in Motion and BEA fell on downgrades.

After the close, National Semi and Xilinx fell on their results.

The Nasdaq lost 18 to 2427, the S&P 500 fell 5 to 1407, and the Dow lost 30 to 12,278. Volume rose to 2.67 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.12 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 19-13 on the NYSE, and 18-11 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 66% on the NYSE, and 66% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 324-11 on the NYSE, and 147-35 on the Nasdaq.