Tech Weakness Sinks Stocks

Genzyme(GENZ) posted second-quarter earnings of $134.5 million, or 49 cents a share, up from $123.6 million, or 46 cents a share, last year. Excluding one-time items, the company earned 68 cents a share, beating the average estimate by 2 cents. Shares of Genzyme surged $4.76, or 8.2%, to $62.74.

After the bell Tuesday, biotech giant Genentech(DNA) said second-quarter earnings rose 79% from last year to $531 million, or 49 cents a share, while adjusted earnings of 56 cents a share beat estimates by 9 cents. Genentech guided to full-year earnings of $1.98 to $2.05 a share, also ahead of forecasts. Shares dropped $3.08, or 3.7% to $80.98.

Also late Tuesday, restaurant operator Ruby Tuesday(RI) posted a fourth-quarter profit of $31.7 million, or 53 cents a share, up 22% from a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were expecting earnings of $30.1 million, or 51 cents a share. Ruby Tuesday rose 19 cents, or 0.9%, to $23.19.

Among ratings moves, Deutsche Securities began coverage of several oil and drilling stocks. The firm initiated Anadarko Petroleum(APC), Noble Energy(NBL) and Apache(APA) with hold ratings. All three stocks finished in negative territory for the day.

Deutsche assigned a buy rating to XTO Energy(XTO) and Chesapeake Energy(CHK), among others.

On Thursday, earnings results are expected from PepsiCo(PEP), Tribune(TRB) and Marriott International(MAR).

Overseas stocks were mostly higher, with London's FTSE 100 closing up 0.1% to 5861 and Germany's Xetra DAX gaining 0.4% to 5638. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei fell 1.5% overnight to 15,249, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.2% to 16,522.

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