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NYSE: US tech stocks not immune to market crunch

Even the giants of technology did not emerge unscathed from the bloodbath this week on Wall Street.

Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Yahoo, eBay, Dell, Intel, Cisco, Hewlett Packard and Oracle, key components of the tech-heavy NASDAQ composite index, all saw their share prices fall by double digits in percentage terms.

The NASDAQ tumbled 15.3 percent for the week to finish at 1,649.51 points on Friday.

Apple was one of the few tech stocks to buck the trend, closing on Friday at US$97.07, a loss of just 0.27 percent for the week.

Apple, which hinted on Thursday it would unveil a new notebook computer next week, clawed back most of its losses for the week on Friday, when it surged by 9.08 percent.

Computer giant IBM, one of the 30 blue-chip stocks which make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, shed 15.16 percent during the week to close at US$87.75 on Friday despite releasing third quarter results which were slightly better than analysts’ expectations.

Hewlett Packard, the world’s leading computer maker, which announced this week it would open a new computer factory in China, closed at US$37.00, a loss of 13.95 percent for the week.

An announcement by struggling US computer chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) that it had received a massive capital infusion from Abu Dhabi and would be splitting into two companies was not enough to lift its share price.

AMD closed at US$3.81 on ­Friday, a loss of 15.89 percent for the week.

Software giant Microsoft shed 18.31 percent during the week to close at US$21.50, while Internet search king Google finished at US$332, down 14.19 percent from a week earlier.

Retail giant Amazon lost 16.04 percent during the week to close at US$56.25 and the bleeding continued at wounded Internet company Yahoo, which rejected a takeover bid from Microsoft earlier this year.

Yahoo lost 23.18 percent during the week to close at US$12.29.

An announcement by eBay on Monday that it was cutting its global workforce by 10 percent failed to lift the share price of the online auction house as it lost 11.66 percent during the week to close at US$16.73.

Software maker Adobe closed at US$27.12, a loss of 19.50 percent for the week, while computer manufacturer Dell lost 12.85 percent finishing at US$13.29.

Computer chip market leader Intel lost 12.24 percent during the week to close at US$15.19, while business software maker Oracle finished at US$16.68, a loss of 14.37 percent.

Networking giant Cisco dropped 18.91 percent to close at US$17.23.

After a week in which their share prices were dragged down along with the rest of the market, technology firms could only hope that Fred Dickson of DA Davidson & Co was speaking about them in his comments on the volatile market.

“At some point, the raging fear shown in the stock market will begin to be replaced by rationality and investors will wake up and realize that hundreds of wonderful companies have been dumped overboard along with the banks and financial institutions that have deservedly seen their stock prices decimated,” he said.
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