By Gavin Adamson
(December 8 – 18:00 ET) – Tech stocks took a pause today, leaving most North American stock indexes limp.
The monthly U.S. economic primer, the Fed’s “Beige Book,” came out today. Although there is continued economic growth with little inflation, the job market is tight in the U.S. And salaries are up a little more in many sectors. Those are interest rate warnings, and investors reacted.
Nasdaq closed up just marginally, by 0.84, to 3,586.08. Yahoo slipped by $36.38, the day it became dually listed on Nasdaq and S&P. One major deal gave the tech scene a bit of a shake-up the. Microsoft and wireless phone maker Ericsson teamed up to offer wireless internet service. Both stocks were up at the end of the day – Ericsson by 12%, to $65.88.
In Canada, the TSE lost 69 points, to 7820.10, led on the way down by two tech giants. Nortel lost more than C$1. JDS Uniphase, Canada’s fibre-optics champion, shrunk by $20.85, to $361.15. Wireless tech firm Research in Motion lost $4.30, to $76.95.
Corel, which has been the subject of take-over rumours for a few weeks, jumped by $8.15, to $41.75. The Ottawa-based software company has attracted attention over its Linux operating system-based software.
Fairfax Financial was another slider, losing $14 to $258 on just a little over 12,000 shares traded.
The ME dropped 58.37, to 3,936.03. The CDNX added 14.63, to 2,046.61.