It was a flat day for the market, but a bad day for tech.

Index

Change

Ending Value
Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) +4.16 [+0.03%] 12,107.74
S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC) +2.42 [+0.19%] 1,243.72
Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC) -25.76 [-0.99%] 2,577.97

The tech-laden Nasdaq was down about a percent while the Dow and S&P 500 were essentially flat.

If we have to credit just one thing ...
We can give credit for this disparity to Oracle. The tech bellwether fell almost 12% today after it reported disappointing earnings after the market bell yesterday. As you'll see, the bad news tanked tech stocks in general.

A more granular view
Oracle isn't one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow (it is part of the Nasdaq and S&P 500, though), but check out the seven biggest laggards in the Dow today:

Company

Today's Stock-Price Change

IBM (NYSE: IBM) (3.1%)
Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) (2.6%)
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) (1.8%)
United Technologies (1%)
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) (1%)
American Express (0.9%)
Intel (0.7%)

Source: S&P Capital IQ.

Oracle's effect was felt, as the top three and five of the seven biggest losers were tech stocks. However, the 20 winners, led by GE and its 2.4% gain, countered the tech drowning.

The bottom line
Oracle and tech had a bad day today, but as you digest the news, remember that we're just looking at daily stock-price movements here. It's fun to check in on the news, but at The Motley Fool, we recommend investing for the long term. These daily price movements are just small blips in the bigger picture.

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