eBay finally found buyers on Friday, but the rest of the market remained under pressure, sliding to new lows for the year.
eBay regained 3% of Thursday's 19% plunge after Legg Mason upgraded the stock from "hold" to "buy" and set a $100 price target.
While eBay will likely continue to face pressure in the U.S. because of increasing competition, Legg Mason analyst Scott Devitt said Thursday's sell-off was "a chance to purchase shares in a superior global franchise at the most discounted valuation the business has seen in some time."
eBay also came under criticism for holding a conference call Friday morning that was limited to its top shareholders.
Investors might have seen value in eBay, but falling consumer sentiment, rising oil prices and earnings jitters had them fleeing the broader market once again.
The Nasdaq lost 11 to 2034, the S&P 500 dropped 7 to 1167, and the Dow fell 78 to 10,392. Volume declined to 1.64 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.05 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 17-15 on the NYSE, and 17-13 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 65% on the NYSE, and 64% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 83-25 on the NYSE, and 49-46 on the Nasdaq.
KLA-Tencor rose 2.5% on better than expected results.
Synaptics, Harmonic and CheckFree surged on their results.
Adaptec, Scientific Atlanta and Affiliated Computer fell 6% each on disappointing results.
Emulex slipped despite beating estimates and raising guidance, while Hutchinson edged higher after beating estimates.
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