By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks continued to put in
an overall weak performance Wednesday, with declines from Microsoft
Corp. and other software companies offsetting mild gains came from
Amazon.com Inc., which expanded its efforts into the grocery
delivery business.
Amazon (AMZN) rose $2.40 a share, to $268.01 after the online
retailing giant added metropolitan Los Angeles to the areas
available for its AmazonFresh grocery delivery service. Prior to
adding L.A., Amazon only offered grocery delivery in its hometown
of Seattle.
Mark Mahaney, of RBC Capital Markets, said in research note that
the expansion of grocery delivery "makes strategic sense as part of
AMZN's long standing efforts to expand into more consumer offerings
and to take advantage of its low cost infrastructure advantage and
expanded U.S. fulfillment center footprint."
The move comes one day after Amazon said it had reached a deal
with Viacom Inc. (VIA) to carry programs from the Nickelodeon, Nick
Jr. MTV and Comedy Central networks over its Amazon Prime Instant
video service.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX), which gave up the Viacom programming in
May, gave up $4.41 a share, or almost 2%, to fall to $220.90.
Dell Inc. (DELL) shares shed 2 cents to $13.40. The battle to
take the PC company private heated up, as a special committee of
Dell board members said an offer by activist investor Carl Ichan
falls short by $4 billion and restated its support of a $24.4
billion buyout proposal from Chief Executive Michael Dell and
private equity firm Silver Lake Partners.
Microsoft (MSFT) was among the decliners, giving up almost 1%,
to trade at $34.67, as Deutsche Bank cut its rating on the company
to hold from buy.
VMware Inc. (VMW) shares shed 2.4% to $66.9, while Intuit Inc.
(INTU) was also down slightly, at $57.68 a share, as Deutsche Bank
also cut the ratings on the software companies to hold from
buy.
Losses also came from Apple Inc. (AAPL), IBM Corp. (IBM),
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), eBay Inc. (EBAY) and
Intel Corp. (INTC).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) fell 37 points to 3,409, while
the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) gave up more than
1%.
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