Disappointing results from Baidu.com and Tellabs
outweighed a number stellar earnings reports from technology companies on Thursday.
A strong market rally turned into a loss for the Nasdaq, as traders grew cautious ahead of Friday’s second-quarter GDP report, expected to clock in at 3.0%.
Leading the way lower were Tellabs and Baidu. Baidu shares plunged 21% after its 175% sales growth failed to take out the top end of analysts’ estimates. Tellabs shares fell 16% on a weaker than expected forecast, as the company was hurt by the pending merger of BellSouth and AT&T
.
Also falling on their earnings reports were Plexus , Komag
, Arris
, Trident
and Sanmina
.
Still, a number of tech companies fared quite well on their earnings reports. Symantec , Akamai
, Comcast
, Business Objects
, Covansys
and Silicon Image
all gained on their earnings.
The all-or-nothing reaction to earnings reports continued after the bell, when McAfee and Rackable Systems
tumbled on their results.
The Nasdaq lost 16 to 2054, the S&P 500 fell 5 to 1263, and the Dow slipped 2 to 11,100. Volume rose to 2.78 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.19 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 18-14 on the NYSE, and 18-11 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 63% on the NYSE, and 64% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 121-92 on the NYSE, and 73-129 on the Nasdaq.