Tech Stocks: IBM, Internet losses lead broad tech plunge at close

Tech stocks are shattered in late trading SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks plunged in the last hour of trading Thursday, with the Nasdaq falling more than 5% to below 1,700 as early gains led by IBM Corp. couldn't hold and falling shares of Internet leaders Google, Yahoo and Amazon led a rout of the technology sector amid more panic on Wall Street. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell another 95 points to close at 1,645, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index gave up 4% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell by more than 3%. Even shares of IBM , which surged earlier in the day due to better than expected earnings, stumbled, falling $1.55 to close at $89. Late Wednesday, IBM... [read full story]