Tech Stocks Hit on Slowdown Fears

The tech sector had a number of names making news on Wednesday, and none of it seemed to be good.

Corning (NYSE: GLW) tumbled 12.6% after lowering its third-quarter forecast because of lower-than-expected LCD glass shipments.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) fell 3.7% after reporting slowing cell phone sales, which also hit shares of Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK), among others.

Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) led a weak chip sector with an 11% loss, and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) fell 4.6%. MEMC (NASDAQ: MEMC) and Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR) fell on their outlooks, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (PHI: SOX) lost 4.2%, ending the day less than 2% from its 52-week low.

McAfee (NYSE: MFE) and Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM) were hit by Friedman, Billings, Ramsey downgrades.

The Nasdaq ended the day 0.7% lower, but the Dow managed to post a small gain after the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book summary of economic conditions noted slow but possibly stabilizing growth and some easing of inflation pressures.

The Nasdaq lost 15 to 2333, the S&P slipped 2 to 1275, and the Dow gained 15 to 11,532. Volume rose to 5.04 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.16 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 16-15 margin on the NYSE, and 14-13 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 51% on the NYSE, and 38% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 31-106 on the NYSE, and 71-113 on the Nasdaq.