Dell, Data Domain Gain as Techs Fall

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Data Domain (NASDAQ: DDUP) rose Monday even as the rest of the tech sector slumped amid economic worries.

Dell gained 3.5% on Bernstein comments that the company is well positioned for a PC upgrade cycle, while Data Domain climbed 2.5% after EMC (NYSE: EMC) once again outbid NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) for the company.

But the rest of the tech and Internet sector traded lower on fears that high unemployment will continue to restrain consumer spending. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), AMD (NYSE: AMD) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) were among the names losing more than the Nasdaq’s 0.5% decline. Amazon also lost ground on tax concerns, while Nvidia got hit by worries that it could lose some Apple Mac business.

Intel, AMD and IBM (NYSE: IBM) will be among the tech companies reporting quarterly results next week.

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was another weak name, off 1.8%.

Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) fell on an Oppenheimer downgrade, while KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) rose on a Credit Suisse upgrade.

SonicWall (NASDAQ: SNWL) gained about 15% on a Lazard Capital upgrade.

The Nasdaq lost 9 to 1787, the S&P 500 added 2 to 898, and the Dow was up 44 to 8324. Volume rose to 4.71 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led by a 22-14 margin on the NYSE, and 16-9 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 58% on the NYSE, and 70% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 16-50 on the NYSE, and 18-33 on the Nasdaq.