Tech earnings push stocks lower

Disappointing tech sector earnings set off a second day of selling on Wall Street Wednesday, though the markets showed strength in the face of a major selloff in Japan. The tech-dominated Nasdaq composite bore the brunt of investors’ concerns.

While Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 2.94 percent for the session overnight, prompting the Tokyo stock market to close early due to heavy volume, Wall Street remained focused on earnings from Intel Corp. and Yahoo Inc., anxious that shortcomings there foretold disappointing earnings at other major companies.

Yet despite the tech sector’s losses, other stocks generally held firm, resisting a broader selloff after the Labor Department reported better-than-expected retail inflation data.

“The selling you’re seeing is nearly all on the tech side, and you’re seeing resilience in other parts of the market,” said Russ Koesterich, senior portfolio manager at Barclays Global Investments in San Francisco. “This tells me that people aren’t panicking over Japan or anything else.”

The tech-focused Nasdaq composite index fell 23.05, or 1 percent, to 2,279.64.

The other major stock indicators also fell, though not as much. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 41.46, or 0.38 percent, to 10,854.86, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 5.00, or 0.39 percent, to 1,277.93.

Bonds edged lower, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.34 percent from 4.33 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices dropped.

Crude oil futures fell below $66 per barrel as traders took profits after the recent surge in energy prices, prompted by escalating tensions in the Middle East. A barrel of light crude settled at $65.73, down 58 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The government’s inflation data helped keep Wall Street’s losses confined to the tech sector. The consumer price index, which measures the price of retail goods and services, fell 0.1 percent, better than the 0.2 percent rise expected on Wall Street. So-called “core” CPI, with food and fuel prices removed, rose 0.2 percent, in line with economists’ forecasts.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 6 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange, where preliminary consolidated volume came to 2.34 billion shares, compared with 2.23 billion traded on Tuesday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 0.16, or 0.02 percent, to 703.78.

Overseas, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.62 percent, Germany’s DAX index lost 1.18 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.73 percent.