Tech Stocks Bring Market Down

Afternoon fall erased earlier gains from Wal-Mart's rosy numbers

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 11, 2007 4:03 PM CDT

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Tech Stocks Bring Market Down — NYSE CEO John Thain, second from left, talks to Virgin Mobile USA CEO Dan Schulman, third from left, and Virgin Group Founder and Chairman Sir Richard Branson, right, at the trading post on the New York Stock Exchange floor where Virgin Mobile's initial public offering was about to begin trading Thursday... (Associated Press)

After flirting with record highs earlier in the day, the markets were brought down to Earth this afternoon by falling tech stocks. The likes of Google, Yahoo, and Apple retreated after JPMorgan cut its third-quarter forecast for Chinese search engine Baidu.com. The S&P 500 dropped 8.06 to 1,554.41, its biggest decline in two weeks; the Dow lost 63.57 to 14,015.12, and the Nasdaq 39.41 to 2,772.2.

"Everyone was waiting for someone to blink and when they did people decided to sell and take their profits,'' one trader told Bloomberg. Rosy September reports from Wal-Mart sent stocks up in the morning; the day's lows came after a report that the European Central Bank may need to raise interest rates to keep inflation under control. GM gained 4.9% after UAW members ratified a new contract with the company. (More stock market stories.)

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