Technology Markets News

Investors punished tech stocks Thursday after networking-gear maker Ciena gave a disappointing outlook, just the latest recent report fueling fears of a broadening slump.

This post was updated at 1:12 p.m. PDT with the closing price of Yahoo's stock and other related information.

LONDON (Reuters) - Global equities stabilized on Thursday after hitting a two-year low while the dollar trimmed recent gains ahead of European interest rate decisions and the British pound touched a trade-weighted 12-year low.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bearish comments from U.S. technology companies fueled fears that the weak economy would hurt holiday season sales of mobile phones and other consumer electronics, driving shares sharply lower on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Tuesday, as a steep decline in the price of oil and other commodities hammered energy and materials companies while tech shares fell amid jitters a global economic slowdown would crimp technology spending.

Dell sneezed, and investors feared the tech sector was catching a cold.

NEW YORK - Wall Street tumbled Friday after the government said personal incomes fell last month by the largest amount in nearly three years while consumer spending slowed. The Dow Jones industrial average more than 170 points, while a disappointing profit report from computer maker Dell Inc. weighed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index.

Slashing computer prices helped Dell Inc. boost sales in its fiscal second quarter, but the No. 2 PC maker's bottom line took a hit when efforts to cut costs failed to make up the difference.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc posted a surprisingly steep drop in quarterly earnings on Thursday and said companies around the world are cutting back on technology spending, sending its shares tumbling 10 percent and sparking fears of weakness in the whole tech sector.

This post was updated at 3:50 p.m. PDT with comments from Michael Dell and analysts.

BEIJING - Dell Inc. unveiled four low-cost computer models for China, India and other emerging economies Wednesday in a new bid to tap the potential of high-growth markets outside the United States.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Applied Signal Technology Inc., which makes signal-processing equipment for military and surveillance applications, said Tuesday its net income doubled in its latest quarter.

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry Samueli has apologized for lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission during its probe of stock options backdating at the chip maker.

>Leading Democrats on Tuesday attacked the Bush administration's broadband policy and the technology track record of GOP presidential hopeful John McCain, while leading tech companies pushed for a more tech-savvy and innovative federal government.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Apple Inc has agreed a distribution deal with carrier Mobile TeleSystems on the sale of iPhones in Russia, one of the world's fastest growing markets for mobile telephone handsets, a market source said.

CAMARILLO, Calif. - Semtech Corp.'s second-quarter profit increased 29 percent to top analyst estimates on rising sales of the company's chips, which help manage power and protect circuits in computers, cell phones and other high-tech gadgets.

SAN FRANCISCO - Hewlett-Packard Co. weathered economic turbulence remarkably well in the fiscal third quarter but the technology bellwether faces another big challenge — stiffer personal-computer competition — that threatens to slow its steady growth.

THE RESULTS: Hewlett-Packard Co. said Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 14 percent while sales rose 10 percent — 5 percent if adjusting for currency fluctuations — as strong laptop sales and a robust international presence lifted the technology bellwether.

Hewlett-Packard beat third-quarter forecasts and expects its fourth-quarter results to surpass analysts' current outlook, cooling fears about a big falloff in global technology spending.

SAN FRANCISCO - Hewlett-Packard Co. offered a fiscal fourth-quarter outlook Tuesday that surpassed Wall Street's estimate.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Fears that emerging market demand for Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co technology products will slow and that the U.S. dollar will strengthen in the remainder of the year may overshadow earnings in line with or above Wall Street targets.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Broadcom Corp stock could shoot up as much as 40 percent as the chip-maker grabs part of the "smartphone" market, according to an article in the August 18 edition of Barron's.

It's been a tough year for most chipmakers, but not Intel, which has seen its stock rise nearly 35% since late January after better-than-expected results the last two quarters.

Increased innovation, a crackdown on piracy, and H-1B visas? Good. Taxes on tech companies, Net neutrality legislation, and our country's current patent system? Bad. Or so says Senator John McCain.

WASHINGTON - The former top attorney at Apple Inc. on Thursday agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle federal regulators' charges that she altered company records to conceal improper backdating of stock options for senior executives including Steve Jobs.

After 96 years and with more than $100 billion in sales this year, IBM wouldn't be considered a growth stock by some investors. They'd be wrong, say IBM executives -- and the numbers of late.

Apple's former general counsel, Nancy Heinen, settled a year-old civil suit Thursday involving backdating of stock options for key executives. Heinen agreed to $2.2 million in restitution, interest and fines and stipulated she would take no job in a publicly traded company for five years.

In a move to reduce consumer energy consumption, some high-tech companies are revealing plans to support a new capability Intel is adding to select versions of its motherboard products.

NEEDHAM, Mass. - TechTarget Inc. on Wednesday forecast third-quarter revenue will rise in a range between about 7 percent and 12 percent compared with the same period a year ago, a projection in line with Wall Street expectations.