By Rex Crum
Technology stocks rose in afternoon trading Wednesday during a
mostly quiet session as the sector awaited earnings results from
Cisco Systems Inc. and reacted to the Federal Reserve's decision on
interest rates.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose early and
remained up by 12 points at 2,069. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35
Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) were
also in positive territory.
Among tech stocks, gains came from Dell Inc. (DELL), Microsoft
Corp. (MSFT), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), IBM Corp. (IBM) and Texas
Instruments Inc. (TXN).
Cisco (CSCO) shares rose 24 cents to $23.15 in advance of the
networking giant's fiscal first-quarter report, due after the
market close. Analysts are expecting Cisco to earn 31 cents a share
on $8.7 billion in sales.
Intel Corp. (INTC) shares rose 32 cents to $18.69. Earlier in
the day, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed an antitrust
suit against the world's largest semiconductor company, charging it
with "bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold" on the chip
market.
Much of the market waited for the Federal Reserve's Open Market
Committee, which decided to keep the target for the fed funds rate
between zero and 0.25%.
While most of the tech sector rose, some notable decliners
emerged.
STEC Inc. (STEC) shares plunged $8.27, or more than 37%, to
$14.60 after the maker of flash-memory storage and solid-state
drives said that one of its top customers, EMC Corp. (EMC), would
carry its 2009 inventory over into 2010.
The EMC decision is seen as potentially harming STEC's
first-quarter results next year and a sign that demand for product
replacements could be slowing.
Maxwell Technologies Inc. (MXWL), a maker of power-management
technology products, saw its shares fall $2.49, or more than 113%,
to $16.49 as analysts at Piper Jaffray cut their rating on the
company's stock to underweight from neutral. However, analysts at
Needham & Co. raised their rating on Maxwell to buy from hold
following the company's third-quarter results and fourth-quarter
outlook.