By Rex Crum
Technology stocks continued with their seesaw pattern in afternoon trading Monday as leaders such as Hewlett-Packard Co., International Business Machines Corp. and Apple Inc. couldn't keep the overall sector in positive territory.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF), once up more than 16 points, fell into the red was down 3 points at 2,042. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was also below its break-even line, but the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) held on to a small gain.
Must of the erratic nature of the day's trading was being blamed on uncertain feelings about the financial sector and the state of the U.S. economy.
Among tech stocks, H-P (HPQ) rose 48 cents to $47.94, and IBM (IBM) shares gave up 28 cents to trade at $120.30. Apple (AAPL) shares remained up by 70 cents at $189.20.
Caris & Co. analyst Rob Cihra wrote in a research note that there is growing evidence that Apple should have a powerful Christmas selling season, led by strong sales of Mac computers and iPhones. Cihra also reiterated his $260-a-share target and buy rating on Apple's stock.
Other gains came from Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Seagate Technology (STX)
Also Monday, GlobalFoundries' board of directors said its chairman, Hector Ruiz, has stepped down. His departure comes about a week after he was named in a Wall Street Journal report as the source of confidential information about chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) in the Galleon Group insider-trading case, which has resulted in five arrests and has rocked the investment community. Ruiz has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Ruiz previously had been chief executive and chairman of AMD, which recently spun off its manufacturing facilities to create GlobalFoundries.