By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- On a generally down day for tech
stocks, Hewlett-Packard Co. got a big lift Wednesday following some
upbeat comments from Chief Executive Meg Whitman.
H-P (HPQ) shares rose more than 6%, to $22.06, after Whitman
said she expects H-P's sales to stabilize and the company is seeing
"pockets of growth." Whitman made the comments at H-P's annual
analyst meeting, held in San Jose, Calif.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) managed to climb by $1.36 a share to trade at
$482.26. The company said its new iPhone 5C and 5S smartphones
would be available in more than three dozen more countries starting
Oct. 25, including Russia, Italy and Spain.
Small gains also came from IBM Corp. (IBM), Microsoft Corp.
(MSFT), Seagate Technology (STX) and EMC Corp. (EMC).
However the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was down
for a third straight day, falling almost 29 points to 3,666.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) declined nearly
1%.
Early market enthusiasm over President Obama's plans to nominate
Janet Yellen as the next Federal Reserve chairwoman waned, and the
majority of the tech sector turned south along with the broader
market.
The Internet sector, in particular, headed into the red. Groupon
Inc. (GRPN) fell 2.7% to $10.24, Netflix Inc. (NFLX) dropped 4.6%
to $288.60, Angie's List Inc. (ANGI) fell 3.6% to $15.13 and
Pandora Media Inc. (P) fell 3.2% to $23.48.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires