Sun shares plummet; broader markets falter

Sun Microsystems' 5-day stock performance.

(Credit: Yahoo Finance)

Sun Microsystems shares plunged a whopping 17.5 percent on Tuesday, after the company warned that its first-quarter results would fall short of expectations.

Sun closed at $4.77 a share, down $1.01, marking the third time this month that its shares have ended the trading session below $5 a share.

But Sun wasn't the only tech stock bleeding red, as evidenced by the declines in the broader markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9,033.66, down 231.77 points, or 2.5 percent. And the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day at 1,696.68, down 73.35 points, or just over 4 percent.

The CNET Tech Index, meanwhile, fell to 1171.19, down 63.36 points, or 5 percent.

Apple, which reported its quarterly results Tuesday, was off 7 percent to close at $91.49 a share, while Qualcomm took a 9.1 percent hit to close at $36.63 a share.

[joetesta70]

I thought Sun was already out of business and hanging out with DEC, Novell and Wang somewhere in Florida....