Stocks Off on Microsoft; Dow at Year Low
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The blue-chip Dow average fell to a  new intraday low for the year on Friday as oil prices climbed  to another record and Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O dragged on  stocks after the software maker's revenue forecast lagged  analysts' expectations.
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U.S. stocks fell on the first trading day of the year on Wednesday, with the Dow slumping about 2 percent to dip below the 13,000 level, after U.S. manufacturing data showed signs of contraction and oil hit $100 a barrel, raising the possibility of a recession in 2008.
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Stocks added to losses on Monday, with the Nasdaq briefly falling more than 1 percent, hit by losses in large technology companies, including Microsoft Corp. , in the last trading session of the year.
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Wall Street looked set to end the week on a weak note on Friday, with technology shares likely to fall after disappointing results from Microsoft Corp.  and Google Inc.
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NEW YORK - US stocks closed slightly lower yesterday with the Dow industrials hovering around this year&#39;s lows amid uncertainty over the deadlocked US presidential election and a flurry of disappointing earnings reports.
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Wall Street was lower at mid-morning on Monday, with Microsoft shares down after a European Union court ruling and investors on guard ahead of earnings from investment banks this week. Light trading activity is expected as investors await the outcome of the Federal Reserve&#39;s policy meeting on Tuesday.
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U.S. stocks fell on Friday as oil  prices hit a record high and Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O dragged  on the major indexes after the software maker's revenue  forecast lagged analysts' expectations.
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The Dow industrial average turned lower on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were little changed as concerns about fallout from the housing slump on the economy's outlook cut short an earlier bounce.
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U.S. stock futures fell slightly on  Friday, indicating stocks would open little changed, as Wall  Street weighed climbing oil prices and a disappointing revenue  outlook from software maker Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O.
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U.S. stocks edged lower on Wednesday after weaker-than-expected data on the U.S. services sector added to concerns about the state of the economy and pushed the Dow back from Tuesday's record high.
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Wall Street is expected to open slightly lower on Monday after rallying on Friday after Microsoft Corp.  bid for Internet media firm Yahoo Inc. .
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Microsoft&#39;s $1.2 billion acquisition bid for Oslo-based Fast Search and Transfer and a dour report on Amazon marked the new year&#39;s first full trading week in the United States, as technology company share prices continued to slide.The increase in tech share prices that occurred in 2007 -- a banner year for IT company earnings -- appears to be in danger of evaporating, as fears of a general downturn and bad news on the consumer front resound among industry insiders. U.S. Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke&#39;s announcement on Thursday that he would move to cut interest rates to spur growth provided only a temporary halt to a decline in the Nasdaq Composite Index, which closed Friday at 2,440, down 212 points from its close at the end of 2007.This week, investment banking firm Goldman Sachs forecast that the United States will suffer a recession this year. Company analyst David Kostin reduced his recommendation for the amount of technology stocks that investors should keep in their portfolios, from 19 percent to 15 percent.Investors usually like to keep a good percentage of their holdings in tech stocks to hedge their bets. IT companies are truly global, with major U.S. vendors earning about 50 percent of their revenue outside their home countries.But inside the United States, tech companies are getting hit with a double whammy: a predicted weakening of consumer spending because of falling home prices and a resulting crisis in financial markets. Up to 18 percent of U.S. and global tech spending comes from financial companies, according to Forrester Research.Turmoil in the financial markets will likely dampen tech buyouts from private equity investors, according to the 451 Group&#39;s Tech Banking Outlook Survey, released this week. But that might not stop cash-rich technology companies from continuing to shop for deals, it noted.On Tuesday,&#160;Microsoft announced that it would buy enterprise search software company Fast Search And Transfer&#160;for 6.6 billion Norwegian kroner ($1.2 billion). Microsoft said it will integrate Fast Search&#39;s high-end search technologies into its enterprise infrastructure offerings, including SharePoint Server 2007 business productivity platform.Microsoft is locked in a search battle with Google, not just for general Web searches but also for businesses. Fast Search shares got an immediate boost on the Oslo exchange, where its price jumped from 13.35 kroner to close at 18.80 kroner Tuesday. The deal did not keep Microsoft shares from sliding in a generally down market for tech, however.On the consumer side, investors were particularly spooked by comments on Tuesday from AT&amp;T CEO Randall Stephenson, who said the company has had to stop servicing an increasing number of customers who did not pay their bills. The company closed Tuesday at $39.07, down by $1.96 for the day.The news did not bode well for other technology companies that sell to consumers. Citing uncertainty about U.S. consumer spending, American Technology Research Monday put a &quot;sell&quot; rating on Amazon, which then on Tuesday fell by $2.66 to close at $85.22 on the Nasdaq.Even companies that received positive reports from analysts this week were slammed by the general market slide. Lazard Capital Markets started its coverage of virtualization-software darling VMware, which had a successful IPO last month, by issuing a &quot;buy&quot; rating on Tuesday. VMware&#39;s share price jumped by $5.39 to close at $79.89 Wednesday, but slid back to $77.53 by the end of the week.
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U.S. stocks fell to fresh year lows on  Monday, with technology shares bearing the brunt of the decline  as a fall in software company Autodesk Inc. ADSK.O and a drop  in chipmakers weighed.
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Stocks were little changed on Monday  as a drop in energy stocks due to lower oil prices was offset  by gains in insurance company American International Group Inc.  AIG.N and software maker Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O.
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The blue-chip Dow closed at its lowest  point this year on Friday as oil prices climbed to another  record and Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT.O revenue forecast lagged  analysts' expectations.
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Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it  expects to complete less than one-quarter of a $20 billion  share buyback this week, shifting the rest of the buyback to  later dates -- a move that traders said was boosting its stock  price.
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NEW YORK  -Stocks fell on Wednesday, after Intel Corp  posted both a disappointing profit and outlook, driving the S&P 500 to its lowest closing level in 14 months.