Amazon, Microsoft Can’t Stop Stock Slide

Strong earnings reports from Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) couldn’t prevent another losing day on Wall Street Friday, as stocks ended their worst month in a year on a down note.

Microsoft fell more than 3 percent despite much stronger than expected results, as traders fretted about the pace of enterprise spending.

Amazon also slipped despite another stellar quarter, but Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR) managed to edge higher on its results.

But the day’s biggest decliners were in the chip sector, led by an 11 percent decline in SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) on a disappointing outlook. Micron (NYSE: MU) and Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) were other decliners. Rambus (NASDAQ: RMBS) fell 6 percent after reporting a loss and saying it will pursue patent damages.

Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) fell 9 percent, and shares of Qualcom (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) remained under pressure following their results earlier this week.

News that the economy grew 5.7 percent didn’t help the broader market, as traders worried about consumer demand once strength from inventory rebuilding fades.

The Nasdaq lost 31 to 2147, the S&P 500 fell 10 to 1073, and the Dow shed 53 to 10,067. Volume rose to 5.41 billion shares on the NYSE, and 3.16 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led by a 26-12 margin on the NYSE, and 17-9 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 68 percent on the NYSE, and 79 percent on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 83-61 on the NYSE, and 44-29 on the Nasdaq.