By Benjamin Pimentel and Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks led a broad
market retreat Wednesday, with major sector leaders such as IBM
Corp. and Apple Inc. joining in the slump that was spurred on by
reported comments from a European Union official about the state of
Japan's nuclear disaster.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) came back from its low point,
but was still down by almost 30 points, or 1.1%, at 2,637. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was down by 174 points at
11,681.
Other tech-related indexes the red included the Morgan Stanley
High Tech 35 Index (MSH), which lost 1.7%, and the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX), which was down 1.3%.
IBM Corp. (IBM) fell more than $5 a share,or 3.2%, to $153.88,
and was the biggest decliner among Dow components. Sanford
Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi also downgraded IBM's rating to
market perform from outperform.
Also in the red were shares of Microsoft Corp.(MSFT) , down 2%,
and Intel Corp. (INTC) , which was off 1.3%.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares slid 3.5% to $333.35 after JMP
Securities analyst Alex Gauna downgraded the stock to market
perform from market outperform.
Gauna said an Apple manufacturing partner in Asia was showing
sales-growth deceleration even before the devastating Japan
quake.
On Tuesday, Apple announced it was delaying the launch of its
iPad 2 tablet in Japan.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) shed $2.20 a share, or 1%, to slip to
$214.67 a day after the stock rose almost 8%. The Wall Street
Journal reported that Netflix was in talks to distribute an
original TV series developed by director David Fincher and starring
Kevin Spacey.
Meanwhile, shares of Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) and Altera Corp. (ALTR)
posted gains.
Shares of Rambus Inc. (RMBS) also rose more than 5% a day after
the chip-design company said it had renewed a patent license
agrement with Toshiba Corp. Shares of Toshiba (TOSYY) dropped more
than 12%.