By Dan Gallagher, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks remained generally in
the red Wednesday following the latest statement by the U.S.
Federal Reserve, with Apple among the leading, large-cap decliners
as $17 billion worth of the tech giant's bonds began trading.
The Fed said it would maintain its current monetary policy even
in the face of some weak national economic data for the month of
March.
Apple (AAPL) shares gave up 1% to slip to $438.57 after the
company debuted its bond offering on Tuesday afternoon, and the
bonds saw high trading volumes on Wednesday morning, sources told
MarketWatch.
Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope trimmed his earnings estimates
slightly for Apple's next three fiscal years, citing in a note "our
updated assumptions around the company's capital structure and
resulting net interest expense." He left his other estimates
unchanged and still rates the stock as a buy.
With Apple maintaining such a presence in the tech sector, the
Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was down by 17.5 points at 3,311,
while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) fell 0.5% and the
Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) was down 0.7%.
Facebook (FB) shares were off by 16 cents at $27.61 ahead of
what is expected to be a report of strong revenue growth with a
flat earnings number. The results are due after the closing bell on
Wednesday.
Yelp (YELP) shares were trimmed by 1.3% to $25.66 ahead of the
company's results -- also due after the closing bell. Revenue is
expected to jump more than 60% with a smaller net loss.
Large-cap tech firms like Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Microsoft
(MSFT), Cisco (CSCO) and NetApp (NTAP) each fell at least 1%.
Cybersecurity technology company Sourcefire Inc. (FIRE) saw its
shares rise more than 8%, to $51.84. Late Tuesday, Sourcefire
reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results, and gave a
forecast that fell short of Wall Street's expectations. However,
much of the negativity was attributed to a temporary slowdown in
federal-government sales due to the sequestration crisis in March,
and analysts were still generally upbeat about Sourcefire's
prospects.
Trulia (TRLA) shares climbed more than 14% after the online
real-estate firm reported a strong jump in first-quarter revenue
and issued a projection that was ahead of analysts' estimates.
Brightcove Inc. (BCOV) shares surged more than 30% after the
company reported a 24% revenue gain for the first quarter.
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