Technology stocks played a game of follow the leader on Friday, and the leaders were mostly headed lower.
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) fell nearly 10% after missing earnings estimates, and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) lost 6% after lowering sales guidance.
Along with another tough quarter for AMD (NYSE: AMD), the results raised fears that the year-long turmoil in financial and credit markets may be starting to weigh on technology spending.
The result was a 1.3% loss for the Nasdaq, even as the Dow eked out a modest gain on better than expected results from Citigroup (NYSE: C) and IBM (NYSE: IBM), which hit a new all-time high after posting another stellar quarter on strength in its services business.
Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) plunged 41% after posting a loss.
Next week will be another busy one for earnings reports, with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) set to report Monday night. Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and VMware (NYSE: VMW) will report Tuesday after the close, and results from Wachovia (NYSE: WB) and Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) will likely be even more important for the broader market that day. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) Monday morning could be another important report for the critical financial sector.
EMC (NYSE: EMC) will reports its results Wednesday morning, and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) will release its numbers after the close that day. Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR) and KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) will be among the names reporting on Thursday.
The Nasdaq fell 29 to 2282, the S&P added a fraction to 1260, and the Dow rose 50 to 11,496. Volume fell to 5.54 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.28 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by an 18-15 margin on the NYSE, while decliners led 16-13 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 62% on the NYSE, and 41% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 32-134 on the NYSE, and 54-113 on the Nasdaq.