Oracle tried to right a staggering market after the close on Monday with better than expected earnings.
Oracle rose 2% after hours after beating expectations by a penny a share with 12-cent earnings, and revenues of $2.5 billion topped $2.41 billion forecasts. Software license sales rose 13% to $849 million, also well ahead of estimates, and the company said it was encouraged by the software spending environment.
Also after the close, EMC and Check Point
announced acquisitions.
Stocks suffered a dramatic reversal during the day, as a big opening gap up on the capture of Saddam Hussein met with selling after traders focused instead on weak chip equipment and retail sales.
The Nasdaq fell 30 to 1918, the S&P 500 lost 6 to 1068, and the Dow dropped 19 to 10,022. Volume rose to 1.46 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.83 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 20-12 on the NYSE, and 22-9 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 64% on the NYSE, and 77% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 435-10 on the NYSE, and 257-14 on the Nasdaq.
IBM came under fire for outsourcing plans.
Microsoft edged higher on a reorganization.
Roxio rose 4% after raising guidance.
DoubleClick gained 3.5% on an upgrade.
BMC slipped on an acquisition.
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