Technology and manufacturing down on European markets

Technology stocks were down in mid-afternoon trading in European markets Friday on bad news from IBM and Samsung.

European chipmakers and related companies were down across the board. Infineon was down 1.6 percent, STMichroelectronics fell 3.8 percent, and ASML, which makes chipmaking equipment, was down 1.4 percent, while Phillips was down 1.9 percent.

Ericsson, Sony’s Swedish partner, was down 2.9 percent and Nokia was down by 3 percent. The French company Alcatel fell 2.8 percent and Siemens was down by 2.6 percent.

Steelmakers were also down with Arcelor, the world’s largest steel producer falling 3.1 percent by mid-afternoon.

Pharmaceuticals seemed to be the only bright spot on the day with a generally upward movement.

The European markets seemed to be imitating the New York markets, which fell over 1 percent each day on Wednesday and Thursday and which had not recovered by early on Friday.

The Dow Jones average saw a further loss of 1.2 percent in the overnight markets, and another 0.6 percent loss in Friday’s early trading. The Nasdaq was down 0.8 percent in early trading.

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