Intel's woes spread to other high-tech stocks, as rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc fell US$0.77 to US$10.90, Hewlett-Packard Co slipped US$0.31 to US$17.70 and Microsoft Corp was down US$0.51 at US$27.11. HP, Microsoft and Intel are all Dow components, and their fortunes reflect the health of not only tech stocks, but of the industrial sector as well.
"Earnings drive the market, and earnings in semiconductors are not good. There's been a big deceleration in growth," said Michael Palazzi, managing director of equity trading at SG Cowen Securities.
"Most rallies are either led by consumer cyclicals or tech, and the strongest rallies are led by tech stocks. So we're kind of stuck until we see techs recover, probably toward the end of the year," Palazzi said.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down 3.54, or 0.6 percent, at 556.24.
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