By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks were mixed in early
trading Wednesday, with Yahoo Inc. and Priceline.com Inc. among the
sector leaders on the rise, but Twitter Inc. in the red after
getting downgraded by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Yahoo (YHOO) shares rose 2%, to $35.27 after the company said
Tuesday that it would add $5 billion to its share buy-back program.
Yahoo also said it raised $1 billion in a convertible debt
offering.
Priceline (PCLN) was up by 3.6%, at $1,156 a share after Goldman
Sachs added the online travel agency to its conviction buy
list.
Among other leading tech stocks, Facebook Inc. (FB) rose 2% to
$47.41, Netflix Inc. (NFLX) climbed by 2% to $344.10, and Microsoft
Corp. (MSFT), IBM Corp. (IBM), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and Oracle
Corp. (ORCL) .
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 5 points to 3,9436, while
the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) and the Morgan Stanley
High Tech 35 Index (MSH) also scored small gains.
Twitter (TWTR) shed 2% to slip to $41. Before the market opened,
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali cut his rating on the
microblogging company to hold from buy saying that based on current
valuations, Facebook is a more attractive investment among
social-networking stocks.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares were trimmed by 59 cents to $519. A
report earlier this week from Susquehanna Financial Group
speculated that Apple might raise the price on its next model of
the iPhone in 2014.
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