Stock market skid hits tech

The stock market roller coaster hit the tech sector last week. The Nasdaq composite, where many tech stocks are traded, had the worst two days of the bull market. Tech stocks aren't nearly as bad as the housing market, which has been having a very bad year and is taking down the market with it. Nevertheless, it's a stunning development because the tech sector has been relatively immune to pressures from the credit crunch and weak dollar which has hurt Wall Street. Cisco Systems added to the worries when it warned that some big companies were slashing spending. "It's been an immaculate situation for tech names like Google (GOOG) [1], Apple (AAPL) [2], Research In Motion (RIMM) [3] and Cisco (CSCO) [4]," said Bernie Schaeffer of Schaeffer's Investment Research. "Now tech stocks are grabbed into the muck with the rest of the market." Google, which had been reaching new highs, ended down last week by $39.10 to $693.84 after briefly dropping nearly $56 a share.

For more on the stock market and tech:
- see USA Today article [5]