PROFIT WOES real and perceived, were again weighing particularly heavily on the Nasdaq this morning.
Traders brushed off Street-beating reports this morning from a handful of smaller tech players and focused more reports of problems at software company Oracle (ORCL) and a big analyst downgrade of cell phone player Nokia (NOK).
Buyers who sent the Nasdaq zooming upward last month are getting more and more unsure about the profit picture for the rest of the year and continue to pull back in the meantime. A report of impending job cuts at Dell Computer (DELL) didn't help much.
At 9:45 a.m., the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 44, or 1.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost eight. Telecom and networking equipment makers were among the worst early tech performers while chip stocks rose. Oil stocks saw some buying as crude oil has again risen to more than $30 a barrel.
Oracle fell 7% after reports emerged that Morgan Stanley analyst Chuck Philips was talking about weakness in the company's database business after having dinner with CEO Larry Ellison. Worries about the ongoing slowdown in the mobile-phone industry were heightened as UBS Warburg global tech analyst Pip Coburn removed Nokia from the firm's top 10 global technology stock picks. The stock lost 7% in Europe and hit a two-year low and about 5% on the NYSE. Competitor Ericsson (ERICY) fell 4%.
Adding to the pessimism: trouble-prone telecom-equipment maker Lucent Technologies (LU) is being investigated by the feds for possible accounting fraud relating to $679 million in revenue last year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company has already taken the money off its books, but hasn't said anything about fraud. Its stock tanked another 8% today.
Dell Computer, which last month warned of missed profit expectations, is now about to do its first layoffs ever, amid a brutal price war in the slowing-PC industry, the Journal reported. Cost cutting usually boost stocks, but not today. Dell fell 5%.
Traders brushed off Street-beating reports this morning from a handful of smaller tech players and focused more reports of problems at software company Oracle (ORCL) and a big analyst downgrade of cell phone player Nokia (NOK).
Buyers who sent the Nasdaq zooming upward last month are getting more and more unsure about the profit picture for the rest of the year and continue to pull back in the meantime. A report of impending job cuts at Dell Computer (DELL) didn't help much.
At 9:45 a.m., the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 44, or 1.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost eight. Telecom and networking equipment makers were among the worst early tech performers while chip stocks rose. Oil stocks saw some buying as crude oil has again risen to more than $30 a barrel.
Oracle fell 7% after reports emerged that Morgan Stanley analyst Chuck Philips was talking about weakness in the company's database business after having dinner with CEO Larry Ellison. Worries about the ongoing slowdown in the mobile-phone industry were heightened as UBS Warburg global tech analyst Pip Coburn removed Nokia from the firm's top 10 global technology stock picks. The stock lost 7% in Europe and hit a two-year low and about 5% on the NYSE. Competitor Ericsson (ERICY) fell 4%.
Adding to the pessimism: trouble-prone telecom-equipment maker Lucent Technologies (LU) is being investigated by the feds for possible accounting fraud relating to $679 million in revenue last year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company has already taken the money off its books, but hasn't said anything about fraud. Its stock tanked another 8% today.
Dell Computer, which last month warned of missed profit expectations, is now about to do its first layoffs ever, amid a brutal price war in the slowing-PC industry, the Journal reported. Cost cutting usually boost stocks, but not today. Dell fell 5%.
