Stocks closed out their best September since 1998 with modest losses Friday.
With the major indexes up 4% for the month, investors took some profits despite strong consumer spending and tame inflation data, as cautious comments from former Fed chair Alan Greenspan and other economic officials had the market on the defensive.
3Com soared 34% on a buyout offer.
Alcatel Lucent added more than 4% on reports that it’s working on a restructuring plan, and Yahoo also gained on restructuring reports, adding 2%.
Accenture gained 6% after its quarterly results surpassed Wall Street forecasts, while BigBand Networks plunged 29% on its results and Jabil fell 7% despite beating estimates.
RF Micro rose 4% after saying it’s ramping up expansion to meet demand.
Chinese stocks got hit by profit-taking, with KongZhong and China BAK Battery falling sharply.
Travelzoo soared 15% on takeover speculation.
Meanwhile, the FDIC shut down pink sheet-traded NetBank because of mortgage defaults, the biggest thrift failure since the savings and loan crisis 15 years ago, according to the AP.
The Nasdaq lost 8 to 2701, the S&P slipped 4 to 1526, and the Dow fell 17 to 13,895. Volume rose to 2.88 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.93 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led by a 17-14 margin on the NYSE, and 17-12 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 60% on the NYSE, and 53 on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 173-84 on the NYSE, and 139-88 on the Nasdaq.