Tech Sector Bucks a Trend; Rate Fears Hit Most Stocks
While bond investors were turning gloomy, investors in technology stocks perked up.</br></br>Worries about Federal Reserve plans for interest rates at next week's meeting depressed Treasury bonds and most stocks in another day of lackluster stock trading. But tech stocks bucked the trend again, amid hopes that earnings gains will offset any rate increase.</br></br>The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 17.86 points, or 0.69%, to 2598.12, on a day when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was falling 54.77, or 0.51%, to 10666.86. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond fell 1 2/32, or $10.625 per $1,000 bond, pushing the yield up to 6.140%. The dollar was mixed.</br></br>The bond "is weighing heavily on stocks," said Bill Schneider, head of block trading at Warburg Dillon Read. "You've had a couple of good earnings reports, notably from Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs Group, and it seems that the sell tickets are stamped and ready to be entered in anticipation."</br></br>Both stocks fell despite beating earnings estimates.