Applied Micro Circuit Loses 9.8% on Downgrade

Applied Micro Circuit

(AMCC)

was down 9.8% in midmorning after

Merrill Lynch

cut it to near-term accumulate from buy, part of a broad downgrade of communications-chip stocks.

Also among those downgraded to near-term accumulate were

Broadcom

(BRCM)

, which was down 8.1%;

PMC Sierra

(PMCS)

, off 9.7%;

Transwitch

(TXCC)

, down 9.4% and

Vitesse

(VTSS)

, down 2.5%.

Merrill cited the same inventory concerns that caused the sector to fall earlier this week on

Cisco Systems'

(CSCO) - Get Report

outlook.