Tech share sell-off drags US stocks lower

In this Wednesday, March 19, 2014, file photo, Specialist Meric Greenbaum works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. 2014. A second straight sell-off of popular technology shares dragged US stocks lower Monday, March 24, as tensions with Russia over Ukraine kept investors on edge. AP

NEW YORK—A second straight sell-off of popular technology shares dragged US stocks lower Monday, as tensions with Russia over Ukraine kept investors on edge.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 26.08 points (0.16 percent) at 16,276.69.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 9.08 (0.49 percent) at 1,857.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite fell 50.40 (1.2 percent) to 4,226.38.

The action kept up a bearish turn that took root Friday, when the Nasdaq gave up 1 percent.

On Monday the Nasdaq at one point was down more than 2.0 percent, before halving that loss.

Besides the already heady valuations, ongoing worries that Russia might launch an additional land-grab in Ukraine after annexing Crimea lay behind the selling.

In addition, a turn lower for HSBC’s purchasing manager index for China suggested weaker growth than expected in that key economy.

Some of the most popular Nasdaq counters took sharp falls: LinkedIn (-4.4 percent), Priceline (-3.32 percent), Facebook (-4.7 percent), Netflix (-6.7 percent), Tesla (-3.8 percent) and Twitter (-4.2 percent).

“People are starting to be a bit nervous about the valuations of some of the high-flyers,” said Peter Coleman of ConvergEx group.

Online music streamer Pandora Media took a 7.7 percent fall after Apple was reported in talks to stream its services via Comcast’s network and also exploring an iTunes app for Android devices that could compete with Pandora.

Apple gained 1.2 percent and Comcast 0.6 percent.

Trade was heavy in biotech stocks: Gilead Sciences overcame early losses to add 0.1 percent, while Biogen Idec slid 1.8 percent on top of its 10 percent loss between Wednesday and Friday last week.

Procter and Gamble led the Dow gainers up 1.8 percent, while Pfizer was the biggest loser, its shares down 2.1 percent after the release of disappointing results of clinical tests on its Tofacitinib psoriasis treatment.

Bond prices were higher. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 2.73 percent from 2.74 percent late Friday, while the 30-year dropped to 3.57 percent from 3.61 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

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