By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)--Technology stocks took a dive
Thursday, as shares of Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Google fell
sharply in a broad market selloff.
Facebook (FB) tumbled 5.2% to close at $59.16, while Google's
Class A stock (GOOGL) dropped 3.6% to close at $546.69, and the
company's Class stock (GOOG) was down 4.1% to close at $540.95.
Apple shares (AAPL) fell 1.3% to close at $523.48.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) dropped by 129 points, or
3.1%, to close at 4,054. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index
(MSH) was off 2.8%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
(SOX) was down 3.2%.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) fell 2.7% to close at $39.36, while Cisco
Systems (CSCO) gave up 2% to close at $22.65, joining the top
decliners on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), which was down
266 points.
BlackBerry (RIMM) shares declined by 3.6% to close at $7.67
after Chief Executive John Chen sought to clarify the beleaguered
company's plan for its struggling handset business.
Chen told Fox Business Network, "I don't have any plans to
jettison the handset business. We love the handset business." The
statement followed a Reuters report in which Chen was quoted as
saying, "If I cannot make money on handsets, I will not be in the
handset business."
Also in the red were shares of eBay Inc. (EBAY), which were off
3.2% to close at $54.08. EBay said Thursday that it has reached a
settlement with billionaire Carl Icahn, who has agreed to withdraw
his proposal to spin off PayPal.
On the upside, shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) were up 0.2% to
close at $32.80. Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of H-P with a buy
rating, saying, the company is "midway through a five-year
turnaround, and thus far has done a good job of stabilizing the
business."
Shares of IBM Corp (IBM) slipped 0.5% to close at $195.68. The
company announced Thursday that it has acquired Silverpop, a
cloud-based marketing services company based in Atlanta, Ga.
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