Techs Stocks Slip As Apple, EBay Retreat

Tech stocks reversed course Wednesday morning, slipping into the red as shares of Apple Inc. and eBay Inc. chalked up losses and chip makers turned in a mixed performance.

The sector earlier had posted modest gains as semiconductor shares rose after technology researchers Gartner Inc. updated its 2009 forecast for the chip industry and now foresees a smaller-than-expected revenue decline.

But the mini-rally lost steam by late morning as the Nasdaq Composite Index ( RIXF) fell 0.2% to 2,021, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) eased 0.1%.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) held on to a 0.2% gain.

As revised, Gartner sees the sector's revenue totaling $212 billion for 2009, down 17.1% on the year. Its prior projection had been for a 22.4% decline.

"The semiconductor market has performed better than expected, as was evident when second quarter semiconductor revenue increased 17% in sequential sales," Gartner Vice President Bryan Lewis said.

Shares of chip giant Intel Corp. (INTC) traded up about 0.6%, but other chip makers were in the red, including Texas Instruments (TXN) and SanDisk Corp. ( SNDK).

The tech sector was also weighed down by losses in shares of such bellwethers as blue chips Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) as well as Google Inc. (GOOG) source>>>

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