Tech stocks led the market lower Tuesday, as rising oil prices and interest rate fears fueled profit-taking.
The chip sector was hit the hardest after Citigroup strategist Tobias Levkovich said pricing pressures from rising capacity may begin to weigh on the sector. Chip stocks lost 1.7% on the sector downgrade to “market weight” from “overweight.” Applied Materials lost 2.2% after being removed from Citi’s recommended list.
Dell lost 1.9% as investors continued to sell the stock after last week’s disappointing outlook. Also weighing on Dell were reports that the company had lost a big contract at Philips Electronics. But even standout HP
got hit, falling 4.6% in a sell-off attributed to profit-taking.
The Nasdaq lost 19 to 2263, the S&P 500 slipped 4 to 1283, and the Dow fell 46 to 11,069. Volume rose to 2.1 billion shares on the NYSE, but declined to 1.79 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 17-15 on the NYSE, and 19-11 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 56% on the NYSE, and 72% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 198-17 on the NYSE, and 144-25 on the Nasdaq.
Vasco climbed 11% on its results, while Comtech
jumped 11% on a deal with Vishay
.
Excel gained 4% on news that it will be acquired by Coherent
.
Sycamore lost 4.7% on its earnings report.