stocks

Sun shares soar on IBM news

Sun Microsystems shares soared Wednesday, as reports surfaced that the struggling hardware maker was in merger talks with IBM.

Sun ended the day up 78.9 percent to close at $8.89 a share. The last time Sun traded at such levels was back in September.

Although Sun's stock got a jolt as reports circulated that the workstation and storage company was in merger talks with IBM, it did not return it to its 52-week high levels of $16.72 a share.

Some analysts issued support for such a deal.

Jeff Goldberg, a senior analyst with financial research and … Read more

Solar stocks go red as equipment maker warns

Update at 10:51 a.m. PDT, with analyst comment.

Energy Conversion Devices' shares plummeted 30.3 percent in morning trading on Tuesday, after the solar-equipment maker warned investors that its third-quarter earnings would fall short of earlier projections amid a weakening economic environment.

The company, which issued its warning after the markets closed on Monday, announced that it would cut 70 positions, issue a two-week production stoppage, and consolidate some of its manufacturing facilities. It also erased its third-quarter and fiscal-year forecast, noting that the financial climate had become too murky to predict, sending its stock down as low … Read more

Selected Flickr images now sold through Getty

Getty Images, one of the stock photography powerhouses, has switched on a program by which selected Flickr photographers can license their images to paying customers.

In earlier days of the microstock business, in which photographers license images over the Internet for relatively low prices through sites including Getty's iStockphoto, there was speculation Flickr might jump into the market. After all, there's plenty of good material, and it's often already tagged for easier categorization.

Instead, though, Flickr and Getty announced a partnership in which Getty taps Flickr photographers it believes have potential to sell their photos through Getty. … Read more

Markets soar, tech stocks post doube-digit gains

Tech stocks soared Tuesday, as the broader markets surged ahead on news that Citigroup generated an operating profit for the first two months this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 379.44 points to end the day up 5.80 percent at 6,926.49. And the Nasdaq climbed 89.64 points to close the session up 7 percent at 1,358.28.

Technology stocks also surged ahead, with the CNET Tech Index climbing 67.84 points to jump ahead by 7.35 percent to 990.66.

Within the tech sector, Adobe Systems jumped 10.37 percent to close … Read more

Another analyst lowers earnings estimates for Apple

Update at 8:52 a.m. PDT, with additional information from the research note and charts.

A Wall Street analyst on Monday lowered earnings estimates for Apple's fiscal second quarter and year, marking a second whack from a financial soothsayer in the past few days.

Doug Reid, an analyst with Thomas Weisel Partners, lowered Apple's fiscal second-quarter earnings estimates from $1.10 a share to $1.05 a share. Its fiscal second quarter ends in late March. For the fiscal year, Reid cut estimates from $5.31 a share to $5.10 a share, according to his research … Read more

A few bright spots in tech stock gloom

Red ink flowed throughout the broader markets Thursday following unsettling news that General Motors auditors are casting doubt on the company's ability to survive..

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 281.40 points, or 4 percent, to 6,594.44, a low it hasn't seen since 1997.

The Dow's decline has been rapid. Just four trading days ago it was in the 7,000 range. And just 13 trading days before that it was in the 8,000s, where it languished for months.

The Nasdaq closed down 54.15 points, or down 4 percent, to 1,… Read more

Dell shares dip, after peculiar 8.5 percent rise

Updated at 7:45 a.m. PST with new stock prices and information on Dell's two largest investors.

Dell's stock acted like a bit of a contrarian against the broader markets for a second day Wednesday, after a peculiar rise of 8.5 percent the previous day on no news.

Dell closed at $9.15 a share on Tuesday, up 72 cents from the previous day, while the broader markets posted losses. Dell's share performance was rather peculiar, given that the company had issued no significant financial news and that the rumor mill was relatively quiet.

Investors, … Read more

Red Hat and IBM faring best in a bad economy

While checking stock prices this afternoon, it quickly became apparent that the recession is not punishing all stocks equally.

In a year that has seen the Dow Jones Industrial Average take a 45 percent haircut, some stocks are swimming upstream in a difficult market. Others, however, are flailing.

The 52-week returns on a range of stocks hint at where buyers are putting their dollars in a tight economy:

Red Hat: down 20 percent Sun: down 72 percent Apple: down 27 percent Oracle: down 20 percent Novell: down 56 percent IBM: down 21 percent Microsoft: down 40 percent Adobe: down 51 … Read more

Dow Jones decline rate mimics Great Depression

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling below the psychological watermark of 7,000 on Monday, investors may be wondering how it all stacks up against the stock market crash of the Great Depression.

It's not looking good.

In the here and now, the Dow has dropped 52.5 percent since its high of 14,279.96 on Oct. 11, 2007, to its low point of 6,779.62 during intraday trading on Monday. (Update 1:16 p.m. PST: At Monday's close it was 6,763.29, a drop of nearly 300 points from the previous close.) … Read more