Skittish Investors Toss Their Chips

First-quarter earnings have offered no shortage of sunny news to bolster tech stocks. Trouble is: nobody cared, judging from the sea of red last week.

The bloodbath has been worst in chip stocks: Last week, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index sank 9.2%, falling below its 200-day moving average. The bellwether chip index now resides more than 20% below its January peak of 560; technically speaking, that's bear market territory.

Above all, investors are seeking to avoid the losses of the last tech bust, when many held on too long as cyclical stocks entered a brutal downturn. Currently, investors in the most volatile segment of tech -- semiconductors -- are rushing to take profits at what many consider to be the peak of the industry's upcycle. ...