US SMALL/MIDCAPS-Chip shares fall despite strong results
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Technology shares fell on Thursday despite strong earnings from a pair of chip companies.
Midcap Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc (FCS.N) stumbled 9.2 percent to $8.74 despite better-than-expected results. Also falling was small cap Cypress Semiconductor Inc CY.N, down 5.3 percent to $9.73 a share after it reported earnings.
Analysts said strong results from chipmaker Intel Corp (INTC.O) earlier this week raised expectations for other companies. For details, see [ID:nBNG532157]
"People tend to get a bit ahead of themselves," said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in Princeton, New Jersey.
The S&P Midcap Information Technology sector index was down 0.8 percent; the small cap IT index was off by 0.8 percent.
Small cap Sterling Financial Corp (STSA.O) plunged 19.9 percent to $1.33 after the bank holding company said its banking unit agreed to a U.S. regulatory agreement ordering the company to strengthen its financial conditions and reduce the level of nonperforming loans. [ID:nBNG435804]
The S&P MidCap Financial index .4GSPF shed 0.6 percent while the SmallCap Financial index .6GSPF lost 0.5 percent.
The S&P MidCap 400 index .MID climbed 0.1 percent and the S&P SmallCap 600 index .SML was flat. The large cap S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.1 percent.
Energy shares rose after government data showed heavy drawdowns in gasoline and distillate inventories last week, versus expectations of modest increases. [ID:nN15307532]
The S&P MidCap Energy index .4GSPE jumped 2.2 percent while the SmallCap Energy index .6GSPE added 1.6 percent.
Front month November futures on the New York Mercantile exchange NGX9 rose 1.8 percent. Smaller energy companies are more closely linked to natural gas prices that large cap energy companies.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
