Markets: Mixed day sees tech stocks slump as banks rise
Several blue-chip companies sent positive news and pushed Dow into positive territory, but S&P and Nasdaq saw modest falls
Apple, the most heavily weighted stock in S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, fell 4.3 per cent, as its third-quarter revenues and earnings missed forecasts, causing wider falls across the Technology sector and pushing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite into the red.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.3 per cent to 2,854, while he S&P 500 dropped fractionally to 1,338.
Despite the broad declines, six of the ten S&P 500 sectors traded in positive territory, with the telecommunications and healthcare indices leading gains, rising 0.8 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
There was positive news for several blue chip stocks, with many bank stocks moving up - Bank of America added 0.4 per cent, Morgan Stanley increased 2.7 per cent and Goldman Sachs rose 1.6 per cent - while AT&T, the largest US telecoms company by revenues, rose 2 per cent.
Semiconductor maker Altera rose 12.2 per cent, Broadcom gained 7.2 per cent and Xilinx rose 2.3 per cent.
The blue-chip heavy Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.5 per cent to 12,676. This was largely due to Caterpillar, one of the Dow components, gaining 1.4 per cent, on the back of a 67 per cent jump in its second-quarter earnings.