The Night Watch: Intel Ticks Lower After Offering Forecast

Intel (INTC Quote), not surprisingly, was the volume leader in extra-session Instinet trading as details began to emerge from the company's midquarter update.

The chip giant was ticking down 0.4% to $32.85 after the company forecast first-quarter revenue of $6.6 billion to $6.9 billion, eliminating both the high and low ends of its previous estimates. In regular Nasdaq trading, Intel tacked on 2 cents to $32.98.

Sun Micro (SUNW Quote), as usual, was among the volume leaders, but on Thursday the company actually had news. On a conference call with analysts, the company said it still expects revenue in the current quarter to rise sequentially, but Sun executives again indicated that orders could come in too late in the quarter to be counted toward the top line. The stock was up 4.1% to $9.19.

Sepracor (SEPR Quote), the biggest Nasdaq loser of the day, slipped another 1.7% to $19.30. The biotech company's stock fell more than 58% in regular action after the Food and Drug Administration said its allergy drug wasn't yet approvable.

Elsewhere, the Nasdaq 100 Unit Trust (QQQ Quote) was up 0.1%, as was Cisco (CSCO Quote). WorldCom (WCOM Quote) was inching up 0.2%. Dell (DELL Quote) was off 0.2%, and Microsoft (MSFT Quote) was unchanged.

Applied Materials (AMAT Quote) was up 0.1%, Oracle (ORCL Quote) was down 0.3%, and the S&P 500 Depositary Receipts (SPY Quote) were ticking ahead by 0.1%.

A.C.L.N. (ASW Quote), which has been the subject of several Herb Greenberg articles on RealMoney.com, was tanking 23.7% to $8 after the bell. Following the close, the car-shipping company, which is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, said three directors have resigned from the board of directors.