By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks were mostly
lower Tuesday, despite gains in shares of Netflix Inc., Yahoo Inc.
and Amazon.com.
Netflix (NFLX) and Yahoo (YHOO) each rose 1.4%, while Amazon
(AMZN) gained 2%, bucking a downward slide in the sector, which saw
the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) shed 0.5% to 4,107. the Morgan
Stanley High Tech 35 Index(MSH) and the Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index (SOX) were each down a fraction.
After posting gains earlier in the session, shares of Facebook
Inc. (FB) slipped 0.2%, despite an upbeat note from Cantor
Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali, who reaffirmed a buy rating on
the stock.
One of the factors Squali cited was potential gains from
Facebook's WhatsApp messaging service. The company, which Facebook
recently acquired for $19 billion, "is a multi-billion dollar
opportunity" for the tech giant," he wrote.
"WhatsApp surpassed 500 million users in April with a target of
1 billion plus users before starting to aggressively pursue
monetization," he told clients in a note. "Given the communication
nature of WhatsApp and its high-value proposition, one could easily
see how valuable this platform is."
Google (GOOGL) shares were also up more than 1%. But the sector
was weighed down by declining shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) ,
Intel Corp.(INTC) , and Cisco Systems.(CSCO)
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