Betsy Riley
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide ... well, few places anyway.
The few pockets of safety that were around earlier in the day (namely, biotechnology and oil service stocks) were fading in afternoon trading. Biotech indices were just holding near unchanged. Other technology sectors were getting punished for not being cheap enough, for being available for trading, for whatever reason. Today, almost everything is on the downswing. The Nasdaq Telecommunications Index was one of the hardest hit, falling 2.8%. Rumors that Finnish telco Nokia(NOK Quote - Cramer on NOK - Stock Picks) would announce an earnings shortfall helped apply the pressure early this morning that sent the major European indices spiraling down today. Nokia competitor Ericsson(ERICY Quote - Cramer on ERICY - Stock Picks) saw its earnings forecast cut by J.P. Morgan Chase. Investors have been disappointed by its slumping share price, but no more so than in its native Sweden, where the company is even under fire from the country's prime minister. He criticized the high salaries and bonuses paid to Ericsson's top execs. Israeli Gilat Satellite(GILTF Quote - Cramer on GILTF - Stock Picks) threw itself into the line of fire when it said on Monday that its earnings this year and next would fall short of estimates. Today, Merrill Lynch cut the stock to a neutral from buy. UBS Warburg smacked it down to a hold from buy and slashed its price target to $14 from $65. Gilat hit a 52-week low earlier in the day of $13.13, but lately was off 4.3% to $13.88. Computer hardware makers were also on the slide, which is not surprising given they were among the first companies to warn of slowing sales. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Computer Box Maker Index lately was dropping 2%. Blue-chip
IBM(IBM Quote - Cramer on IBM - Stock Picks) was especially hurt today, down 3.6% to $94.83. A report out today showed that IBM lost its title as the top server vendor in the U.S. to Sun Microsystems(SUNW Quote - Cramer on SUNW - Stock Picks). IBM managed to hold on to its crown as the main server vendor worldwide. What do telcos and hardware makers have in common? That's right, chips. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index was tumbling 1.9%. For TheStreet.com's earlier sector watch, check out
Sector Watch: Financials Flail, Biotech Lone Bright Spot.
RSS
