Google, Goldman Send Stocks Plunging

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) led stocks sharply lower on Friday.

Google shares fell 7.6 percent despite better than expected quarterly results, as traders were apparently looking for even stronger numbers from the search giant. Worries about Google’s spending also unnerved investors.

AMD (NYSE: AMD) was another name that ended the day lower despite beating Wall Street estimates. AMD’s shares shed 3.4 percent.

Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) lost 5.3 percent on a Needham downgrade and worries about competition from AMD.

But it was Goldman Sachs that did the most damage to the stock market, plunging 12.8 percent after being charged with fraud by the SEC for its role in the subprime mortgage crisis. The rest of the market lost more than 1 percent.

Phase Forward (NASDAQ: PFWD) was one of the day’s biggest winners, soaring 28 percent on news that Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) will acquire the healthcare technology company.

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) and Radcom (NASDAQ: RDCM) were two other tech companies that managed to end the day with gains.

Palm has been gaining ground on takeover rumors.

Monday will see earnings from IBM (NYSE: IBM), among others. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR), VMware (NYSE: VMW), Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) will report quarterly results on Tuesday, EMC (NYSE: EMC) and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) will report earnings on Wednesday, and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will weigh in on Thursday.