Tech stocks posted solid gains Tuesday, led by a few big names, but blue chips sagged on continued credit fears.
Still, hopes for additional Federal Reserve intervention and reports that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway could buy some of Countrywide Financial’s
assets limited downside, with the Dow ending the day just modestly lower.
EMC rose 3% on a Caris upgrade, which boosted shares of its VMware
spinoff by 15%.
Research in Motion gained 4% after completing a three-for-one stock split.
Apple jumped 4% on hopes for strong iPhone sales.
LSI gained 7% on plans to sell its mobility products unit to Infineon
, and Agilysys
gained 13% on a share buyback.
Infosys fell on financial services slowdown fears, and Oplink
and Retalix
tumbled on their results.
The Nasdaq rose 12 to 2521, the S&P 500 added 1 to 1447, and the Dow lost 30 to 13,090. Volume declined to 2.98 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.72 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancing issues led by a 20-12 margin on the NYSE, and 15-14 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 60% on the NYSE, and 59% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 22-94 on the NYSE, and 44-96 on the Nasdaq.