By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Concerns about election results
in Italy weighed on U.S. markets on Monday, which led to selling in
tech stocks and left much of the sector in the red.
The potential for a split parliament following Italy's latest
election results led to worries about political instability in
Europe's third-largest economy.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF), which had been in
positive territory early in the session, ended the day down more
than 45 points, or 1.4%, to 3,116, while the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) gave up nearly 2% and the Morgan Stanley
High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell by 1.6%.
Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) was one of the few tech stocks to maintain its
edge by the time the market closed. The online social-gaming
company's shares ended the day up by 7.5% at $3.43, in the wake of
measures taken late last week by the state of Nevada to legalize
online poker, and New Jersey that would allow Internet-based
gambling in conjunction with Atlantic City casinos.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX), which had been up as much as 3%, ended the
day with a loss of 54 cents a share at $179.22. Chief Executive
Reed Hastings discussed the company's recent original series "House
of Cards" at the Morgan Stanley tech conference in San Francisco on
Monday.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) shares gave up 13 cents to close at
$19.07. The Wall Street Journal reported that board members are
meeting with a group of investors seeking the ouster of three
directors. The tech giant also introduced a low-end tablet device
running on the Android mobile operating system at the Mobile World
Congress trade show in Barcelona.
Also, the company announced it has sold the webOS mobile
operating system that it acquired with Palm Inc. to LG Electronics.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Facebook Inc. (FB) rose 14 cents a share to close at $27.50 .
The social-networking giant said it would offer free or discounted
messaging access to members in more than a dozen countries, via
those members' mobile-phone operators. Facebook said the promotion
would be available to members who use Messenger for Android,
Messenger for iOS and Facebook for Every Phone.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares fell 1.8% to close at $442.80.
Archrival Samsung Electronics announced an event for New York City
on March 14, where it is expected to debut its next Galaxy S
smartphone.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) shares fell 2.3% to end the day at $20.73. The
All Things D blog reported that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has
instituted a new policy that requires all Yahoo employees who work
remotely to relocate to company offices. The move is expected to
affect several hundred Yahoo employees.
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