The Dow (INDEX: ^DJI) is off 0.2% at midday, pushed down by a variety of technology stocks.
The biggest percentage losers today are Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 1.74%) and Intel (INTC +23.33%), down 2.3% and 1.8%, respectively. HP staged a short-lived comeback rally earlier this month but is again dangerously close to setting fresh 52-week lows. Investors worry that CEO Meg Whitman's turnaround plans may not pan out -- and rightly so.
Intel shares started 2012 with a market-beating 20% rally but then posted a 22% drop since hitting that peak in May. The chip giant's worries are tied to HP's PC market woes to some degree, but Intel's bigger issue is that repeated attempts to break into the mobile market have been dead ends so far. The problem was underscored this weekend as Apple (AAPL 0.85%) shipped 5 million iPhone 5 handsets in just three days -- and none of them come with Intel Inside.
Pfizer (PFE +1.24%) did its best to pull the Dow back into positive territory, posting a 0.8% gain thanks to early-stage approvals for a stroke-prevention drug and a decision by Moody's to raise its credit outlook for the pharmaceutical industry as a whole. But because of the company's low share price, Pfizer's jump only added one measly point to the Dow's total value.
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