Oracle, STEC Weigh on Tech Stocks

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and STEC (NASDAQ: STEC) led the way lower Thursday as the stock market snapped a three-day winning streak.

Oracle shares lost 2.8 percent after the company surprised investors with disappointing sales.

STEC tumbled 17 percent on worries about competition in the enterprise solid state drive (SSD) market.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) edged higher, as the two continued to gain on recent optimism from analysts.

The chip sector was weak for a second day, with Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) leading the way lower on valuation concerns.

Speedus (NASDAQ: SPDE) shares more than doubled after a subsidiary won FDA approval for a telemedicine device.

After the close, Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) was little changed after reporting blow-out quarterly results but announcing a stock offering to raise more money.

The Nasdaq slipped 6 to 2126, the S&P 500 lost 3 to 1065, and the Dow was off 7 to 9783. Volume declined to 6.67 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.64 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led by a 21-16 margin on the NYSE, and by a few shares on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 62 percent on the NYSE, and 65 percent on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 365-89 on the NYSE, and 152-6 on the Nasdaq.