Early market rallies fueled by acquisition news in the technology sector
were reversed after oil prices touched record levels on Monday.
Before the bell, E*Trade announced that it will acquire
online brokerage operations of Harrisdirect from BMO Financial Group
Investors liked E*Trade’s move to consolidate the online trading industry,
sending its shares up $1.24, or 8 percent, to $16.10.
Traders were also eyeing Cisco and Nokia
after a weekend news report out of the United Kingdom said the network equipment giant was interested in buying the mobile handset and systems maker.
Nokia later refuted the story and the stocks ended the day nearly even with
Friday’s close. Cisco shed 5 cents, or less than 1 percent, to $19.25; Nokia added 14 cents, or 1 percent, to $16.08.
Cisco will report results for its most recent quarter after the bell
Tuesday.
Other network equipment companies fared well after posting strong revenue
and earnings figures. Nortel , which has endured a shakeup in its management and increasing pressure from overseas rivals, jumped 33 cents, or 12 percent, to $2.96 in heavy trading.
And after the bell, Voice over IP equipment maker Sonus Networks posted better than expected earnings, setting the stage for a strong opening on Tuesday.
The Nasdaq lost 13.52 to 2164, the S&P was down 3.32 to to 1223, and the Dow
off 21.1 to 10,536. Volume was down to 922 million shares on the NYSE and 1 billion on the Nasdaq.
As for other notable tech stocks, Microsoft lost 63
cents, or 2 percent to 27.13 and IBM edged up 20 cents, or less than 1 percent, to 83.36.
Google was down a fraction and Yahoo
was up marginally.