Apple’s Fall Weighs on Techs

A downgrade of Apple weighed on the tech sector Monday.

Citigroup lowered its rating on Apple shares to hold from buy, saying the good news is largely priced into the stock at current levels. The firm also said it doesn’t expect a new video iPod in time for the holiday season. Apple shares lost 2.8% on the downgrade.

Qualcomm also weighed heavily on the Nasdaq, falling 4.6% on concern about the outcome of its patent dispute with Broadcom .

Keane fell 20% on a warning.

CryptoLogic and Optimal Group tumbled on a new Internet gambling law.

HP shares hit a new 52-week high on optimism that CEO Mark Hurd will survive the company’s leak investigation scandal.

Chip stocks were weak despite a strong industry sales report for August, as traders fretted about rising inventories and a lower sales outlook. After the close, Marvell warned that its quarterly results will be lower than expected because of weak demand from HDD customers, and the company also said it will restate past results because of option discrepancies.

The broader market stalled on a weaker than expected national manufacturing report that also contained good news on inflation, putting talk of a new all-time high in the Dow on hold for another day. Friday’s monthly jobs report will be the next big economic data point.

The Nasdaq lost 20 to 2237, the S&P 500 fell 4 to 1331, and the Dow slipped 8 to 11,670. Volume declined to 2.06 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.87 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 17-14 on the NYSE, and 20-10 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 63% on the NYSE, and 69% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 140-27 on the NYSE, and 105-74 on the Nasdaq.