NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Tech shares tumbled for the fifth straight day Friday, ending a week of big market losses across all sectors on increased global turmoil and fears of an interest rate hike.
The Nasdaq composite index fell 38.63 points, or 1.9 percent, to close at 1,920.15. The Nasdaq lost 6.3 percent for the week and fell more than other indexes, as it has all week and month.
The AMEX Technology index fell 2.1 percent. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slid 1.6 percent.
Technology shares slid despite a week of positive earnings reports on profit taking, grim political news and uncertainties about U.S. interest rate hikes, hitting semiconductors particularly hard.
"There's a strong sensitivity now to interest rate increases, and high-priced stocks such as tech stocks are generally more sensitive to that," Ed Peters, chief investment officer at PanAgora Asset Management, told Reuters.
"There's fear that when the Fed comes out with a statement next week, it's going to be a bit more hawkish than before, or at least less neutral, so people are turning to stocks that are less rate-sensitive," he added.
KLA-Tencor Corp., (KLAC: down $0.20 to $41.70, Research, Estimates) a major chip gear maker, announced Friday that chief operating officer and president Gary Dickerson resigned to take a "personal leave of absence." KLA-Tencor recently announced that new orders numbers will fall short of analyst expectations, and its stock fell as much as 3 percent the following day.
KLA shares fell less than 0.5 percent after the announcement, but continued to decline more than 2 percent in after-hours trade on INET.
Chip sector companies that saw major losses include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: down $0.38 to $14.22, Research, Estimates), which fell 2.6 percent at $14.27, Broadcom (BRCM: down $1.40 to $37.83, Research, Estimates), which fell 3.6 percent, and PMC Sierra Inc. (PMCS: down $1.00 to $12.14, Research, Estimates), down 7.6 percent.
Nasdaq volume leaders include computer network company Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO: down $1.00 to $20.91, Research, Estimates), which topped the index and dropped 4.6 percent and chip giant Intel, (INTC: down $0.40 to $25.73, Research, Estimates) which dropped 1.5 percent.
The world's No. 1 software company Microsoft (MSFT: down $0.30 to $26.13, Research, Estimates) shed 1.3 percent and fellow software manufacturer Oracle (ORCL: down $0.10 to $11.25, Research, Estimates) lost 1.8 percent.
Network gear maker JDS Uniphase (JDSU: down $0.20 to $3.03, Research, Estimates) fell 6.8 percent after ending down 15.8 percent the previous day. The company reported a narrower loss in its fiscal fourth-quarter, but also issued a warning about its current quarter and said that it did not see a clear recovery in its sector.
Nortel Networks and Lucent Technology led the NYSE in volume. Nortel (NT: down $0.11 to $3.74, Research, Estimates) ended the day down 2.9 percent and Lucent (LU: down $0.08 to $3.37, Research, Estimates) dropped 2.3 percent in active trade.
Motorola (MOT: down $0.34 to $18.25, Research, Estimates) shares also lost value, ending the day down 1.8 percent.
Internet shares took a tumble in the wake of the Google initial public offering.
Top Google rival Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO: down $4.10 to $50.53, Research, Estimates) plummeted 7.6 percent. The company had lost 2.1 percent in active trade Thursday following Google's IPO announcement. Ask Jeeves Inc. (ASKJ: down $3.30 to $35.37, Research, Estimates) dropped 8.7 percent and smaller search rival LookSmart (LOOK: down $0.40 to $2.02, Research, Estimates) plunged 17.2 percent.
Gateway Inc (GTW: down $0.49 to $4.82, Research, Estimates) posted a narrower first-quarter loss of 49 cents a share Thursday versus 62 cents a year earlier, and said it will cut another 1,500 jobs as it looks to return to profitability. The computer maker still lost 9.2 percent in active trade Friday.
Shares in regional broadcasting firm Sinclair Broadcast Group 'A' (SBGI: down $0.20 to $12.36, Research, Estimates) fell 2.1 percent. Reports came out Friday that the company ordered its seven ABC stations not to broadcast Friday's "Nightline" that will air the names and photographs of the more than 500 U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war on concerns that the program was politically motivated and will undermine U.S. war efforts in Iraq.
Industry video game software leader Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS: up $0.60 to $50.62, Research, Estimates) reported Thursday first-quarter net revenue up 19 percent year-on-year. Shares rose 1.3 percent at $50.62.
No. 2 technology services provider Electronic Data Systems reported Monday sharply narrowed first-quarter losses and revenue up 4 percent, just missing Wall Street expectations.
EDS (EDS: up $0.08 to $18.29, Research, Estimates) shares ended the day up 0.4 percent, even though Moody's Investors Service announced earlier in the day it may cut the company's debt rating to junk status from one notch above junk by the end of next week.
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