Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) on Friday gave investors hope that the longest recession since the 1930s could be coming to an end.
Better than expected quarterly results from Dell and an upbeat outlook from Intel boosted shares of a few tech companies, but the rest of the market sagged under worries about the health of consumer spending and sentiment.
Dell’s sales and earnings news released late Thursday topped Wall Street forecasts, and Intel raised its sales outlook before the market opened Friday morning. That was good for a strong opening for the market, but stocks spend the rest of the day on the defensive.
Intel raised its current quarter sales guidance to $8.8 to $9.2 billion, much better than the $8.55 billion expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters. The chip giant cited “stronger than expected demand for microprocessors and chipsets.” The company will report results on Oct. 13, two weeks after the quarter ends.
Marvell’s (NASDAQ: MRVL) strong quarterly results were also good news for the chip sector, and shares of AMD (NYSE: AMD), Micron (NYSE: MU) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) rose 5 percent each on the news.
Aruba Networks (NASDAQ: ARUN) was another bright spot for earnings news, and Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) continued to gain on news of insider buying.
The Nasdaq gained 1 to 2028, the S&P 500 slipped 2 to 1029, and the Dow lost 36 to 9544. Volume rose to 5.79 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.36 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 19-18 margin on the NYSE, while decliners led 17-9 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 59 percent on the NYSE, and 67 percent on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 106-66 on the NYSE, and 76-11 on the Nasdaq.
