By Rex Crum and Dan Gallagher, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Selloff pressures on the
technology sector eased somewhat by Monday afternoon, though most
of the group was still well in the red, with Apple Inc. leading the
drop.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was last down 0.7% to 3,334
while the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) fell 1.8% and the
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) gave up 1.5%. The Dow was
last down about 60 points -- having shed more than 240 points
earlier, as investors registered fears about a possible liquidity
crunch in China.
Apple (AAPL) was last down 2.6% to $402.48 -- after falling
below the $400 mark earlier in the day for the first time in two
months.
Before the start of trading, Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter
Misek cut his price target on Apple's stock to $405 a share from
$420. In a research note, Misek also lowered his iPhone sales
estimate for the third quarter of the year to 27 million units from
30 million.
"We remain cautious on Apple as it fills in its product gap"
with what Misek estimates will be a 5-inch screen iPhone 6 next
year. Misek also said that checks in the smartphone industry
indicate longer inventory levels for mobile-network carriers,
suggesting that products are sitting on the shelves longer than
anticipated.
Microsoft (MSFT) was one of the few gainers, rising 2.4% to
$34.06. The software giant will kick off its Build developers
conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, where it is expected to
preview its upcoming Windows Blue update.
But most other major tech stocks remained down by the afternoon.
Google Inc. (GOOG) was down 1%, at $871.89, even though J.P. Morgan
analyst Doug Anmuth raised his price target on the company's stock
to $1,025 a share from $860 on overall positive sentiment for the
company's business efforts.
Dell (DELL) shares were down a fraction to $13.32. The PC maker
argued in a filing on Monday morning that a counter-proposal led by
activist Carl Icahn "lacked credibility" and is risky.
Yahoo (YHOO) was down 3.9% to $24.22. The company will hold its
annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday morning. Facebook (FB) fell
nearly 2.8% by the afternoon.
Among major decliners by midday included Intel (INTC) , down
1.7%; EMC Corp. (EMC) , down 1.6%; and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) ,
down 3%.
One bright spot was Stec Inc.(STEC), which saw its shares almost
double, to $6.70, after hard disk-drive maker Western Digital Corp.
(WDC) said it would acquire the maker of solid state drives for
$340 million, or the equivalent of $6.85 a share.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires