The stock market rebounded on Wednesday, but chip stocks were left behind on a mixed outlook from Intel (NASDAQ: INTC).
Intel shares slumped 2.4% after the company called a bottom in the PC market but issued a cautious outlook for the second quarter.
The news weighed on the chip sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (PHI: SOX) lost 1.5%. AMD (NYSE: AMD), which will report its results next week, fell 5.2%, and chip equipment makers were weak on news that Intel plans to cut capital spending. Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) shed 2.8%.
But the rest of the market gained on optimism that an economic recovery is near, and even the Nasdaq ended the day up fractionally.
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) rose and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) fell ahead of their earnings reports due out on Thursday.
Analysts expect Google to report earnings of $4.93 a share on a 10.5% increase in sales to $4.08 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Nokia is expected to report a 34% decline in sales to $12.71 billion.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) also ended the day on the downside, but HP (NYSE: HPQ) tacked on 2.1% on reports that it will unveil a new server system on Monday.
Micron (NYSE: MU) rose 4.7% on plans to raise $200 million.
Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY) lost 6.8% on its results.
The Nasdaq added 1 to 1626, the S&P 500 rose 10 to 852, and the Dow climbed 109 to 8029. Volume declined to 7.2 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.1 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 25-11 margin on the NYSE, and 17-10 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 72% on the NYSE, and 44% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 8-44 on the NYSE, and 10-25 on the Nasdaq.