The Dow Jones industrial average fell about 200 points in the last half-hour of trading Tuesday, to close down 2%, and the Nasdaq closed down 0.83%, as a handful of technology companies managed to close in positive territory.
Apple, eBay, Research in Motion, Oracle, and Amazon.com were among the few companies to recover slightly Tuesday, a day after steep losses across the board.
Research In Motion, which announced the BlackBerry Storm, a touch-screen smartphone available exclusively through Verizon, closed up 4.63%, at $57.60 a share. The launch didn't seem to help Verizon, which closed down 2.46%, at $27.73 per share, following a trend of losses among telecommunications companies.
Oracle was among several software companies to weather Tuesday's rough seas with a slight increase of 0.6% to close at $16.88 per share. Novell, Citrix, and CA also ended higher Tuesday. Citrix rose a notable 5.32% to close at $20.58. Novell rose 5.49% to close at $4.61, while CA rose 0.53% to close at $17.01 per share.
Shares of Microsoft fell 0.95% to $23.01.
Apple traded at $89.79 at the close, up 0.73% from Monday, while shares of eBay rose 3.09% to trade at $17.02.
Shares of Amazon rose 4.27% to trade at $61.02 on news that the company's brand recognition had increased and its customer satisfaction matched that of iTunes, according to a recent Ipsos study.
Dell appeared poised to close in positive territory before sliding during the last minutes of trading to close down 0.37%, at $13.50 a share.
IBM hit a 52-week low to close down 5.33%, at $90.55 a share.
