By Dan Gallagher, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks closed well in the
red on Wednesday, as the latest Fed statement drove the markets
down further, and large-cap techs such as Apple, IBM and Amazon.com
saw notable declines.
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. The Dow closed the session down nearly 140 points.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was down 0.9% to 3,299, while
the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) fell 0.8% and the Morgan
Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) was down 0.9%.
Apple (AAPL) shares gave up 0.8% to slip to $439.29 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.
IDC also reported that Apple lost market share in the tablet
space in the first quarter, though the company's iPad still led the
market with nearly 40% of total sales in the period.
One notable gainer was Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) , which
jumped more than 14% to close at $3.22. The spike in trades came in
the final two hours of trading; Barron's reported some deal rumors
at trading desks, and one broker noted that the company put two new
chips on sale.
Facebook (FB) shares closed down 1.2% at $27.43 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 fell 2.8% to $25.30 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.
Cybersecurity technology company Sourcefire Inc. (FIRE) saw its
shares rise more than 7%, to $51.33. 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 12% 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 24% after the
company reported a 24% revenue gain for the first quarter.
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