Stocks slip again as tech companies extend slump

NEW YORK» Technology companies suffered another day of sharp losses Thursday, although the broader market didn’t fare as badly.

Chipmakers sank after an executive from KLATencor said business in the fourth quarter looks weaker than the company expected. Apple also fell, and social media companies continued to sink after congressional hearings weighed on the stocks the day before.

“They have a target on their back,” said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior markets strategist at Voya Investment Management.

The S&P 500 index shed 10.55 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,878.05. The Nasdaq composite fell 72.45 points, or 0.9 percent, to 7,922.73. The Russell 2000 index of smallercompany stocks declined 13.18 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,714.47.

But industrial companies and highdividend stocks rose, which limited the market’s losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20.88 points, or 0.1 percent, to 25,995.87 as Boeing, 3M and United Technologies headed higher.

Apple fell 1.7 percent to $222.10 and KLATencor lost 9.7 percent to $107.28. Facebook gave up 2.8 percent to $162.53, Twitter slid 5.9 percent to $30.81 and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, declined 1.3 percent to $1,183.99. Those companies took similar losses Wednesday.

The Nasdaq, which has a high concentration of technology companies, is down 2.3 percent this week. But for the second day in a row, big losses for technology companies and for Amazon, the secondlargest U.S. company, were partly canceled out by gains elsewhere.

Cavanaugh, of Voya Investment Management, said inves tors are still optimistic about the U.S. economy, which has helped other stocks.

“They know the underlying fundamentals are good,” she said. “Company earnings are not turning tail (and running away) because of the trade wars and all of the political drama.”

Technology companies outperformed the broader S&P 500 in each of the past four years, and they are doing it again this year. Cavanaugh said the companies have posted very strong profits at a time when global economic growth has been slow, and investors will probably continue to find that appealing.