By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks generally ended the
week with an upbeat performance on Friday, as the broader market
turned optimistic following comments about talks between President
Obama and congressional leaders over avoiding the so-called "fiscal
cliff" the U.S. faces in January.
But Dell Inc. (DELL) remained a standout decliner, as its shares
fell more than 7% due to negative sentiment over the PC company's
quarterly results and prospects.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) closed with a gain
of 16 points, at 2,853. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index also
closed in positive territory, but the Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index (SOX) ended the day with a slight loss.
Helping the gains were what was described as "constructive"
talks between Obama and top Republicans and Democrats over how to
avoid the set of tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to kick at
the start of the year.
Among tech stocks, gains came from IBM Corp. (IBM) Oracle Corp.
(ORCL), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Facebook Inc. (FB) and Intel Corp.
(INTC).
Videogame publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) saw its
shares rise 4.7%, to close at $11.05. The company said its
Activision Publishing subsidiary's "Call of Duty: Black Ops II"
recorded more than $500 million in world-wide retail sales in the
first 24 hours of its release.
Dell (DELL) stood out among the tech-sector's decliners, giving
up 7.3%, to close at $8.86 a share, as investors reacted negatively
to the company's latest earnings results, which came out after the
close of trading Thursday.
Dell said that big declines in PC sales contributed to the
company's earnings falling to $475 million, or 27 cents a share,
compared with net income of $893 million, or 49 cents a share, in
the same period a year ago.
Shaw Wu, who covers Dell for Sterne Agee, said in a research
note that Dell's results show that company is suffering from
"market share loss and clear cannibalization by tablets
andsmartphoness" from Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google Inc. (GOOG).
Other tech companies that reported quarterly results on Thursday
closed with mixed results, as Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL)
and Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) ended the day in the red, and
Intuit Inc. (INTU) and design-software company Autodesk Inc. (ADSK)
edging into positive territory.
Ruckus Wireless Inc. (RKUS) shares fell more than 18%, to close
at $12.25 on the company's first day as a public company. Ruckus,
which makes products for mobile carriers and businesses improve
their Wi-Fi network coverage, offered 8.4 million shares at $15 a
share.
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