<div><div class="yn-story-content">
                <p>NEW YORK (Reuters) – A weak outlook from Texas Instruments weighed on the Nasdaq on Wednesday and pushed an index of chip makers below a key technical level in a worrisome sign for the market's six-month uptrend.</p>
                <p>
The PHLX semiconductor index (.SOX) fell 3 percent to close below its 50-day moving average, which represents medium-term momentum, for the first time since September.</p>
                <p>
Texas Instruments (TXN.N) led the losers, after its earnings target disappointed Wall Street. Its shares fell 3.1 percent to $34.74.</p>
                <p>
"I think the markets are ready for a sell-off that continues to be started by the Nasdaq futures markets," said Harry Michas, technical analyst and stock-index futures trader at Iharmarketmonitor.com.</p>
                <p>
"If the Nasdaq futures fall back below the 2,313.00 level again, it should attract more profit taking as well as some new shorts."</p>
                <p>
The futures were trading around 2,320.</p>
                <p>
International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) helped the Dow tread water, as the stock, the largest component in the price-weighted index, rose 2.2 percent to $165.86.</p>
                <p>
Even though semis' gains have outpaced the broader market in the last several months, the S&amp;P 500 and the semiconductor index have been moving in the same direction, which could mean further declines in the sector and spell more of the same for the overall market.</p>
                <p>
A 20-day correlation between the S&amp;P 500 and the semiconductor index (.SOX) was at 0.77, with a reading of 1 suggesting a perfect correlation.</p>
                <p>
The semiconductor index is up 41 percent since the start of September, when the recent rally began, while the S&amp;P 500 is up 26 percent.</p>
                <p>
High oil prices dragged on the broader market on the two-year anniversary of stocks' bull run from the S&amp;P 500's 12-1/2-year closing low of 676.53, which was sparked by the financial crisis.</p>
                <p>
"The market is at a real inflection point here," said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at John Thomas Financial in New York. "I'm not banging the table for the upside, but I would say there is more evidence for an upside breakout."</p>
                <p>
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dipped 1.29 points, or 0.01 percent, to finish at 12,213.09. The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) shed 1.80 points, or 0.14 percent, to end at 1,320.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) fell 14.05 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 2,751.72.</p>
                <p>
Tech shares also felt the weight of Finisar Corp (FNSR.O). The stock plummeted 38.5 percent to $24.61 after the network equipment maker forecast a dismal fourth quarter, blaming an inventory pile-up by telecommunications equipment makers in China.</p>
                <p>
Finisar is up 100 percent since the start of September, when the recent stock market rally began. Shares of sector peer JDS Uniphase (JDSU.O) fell 16.7 percent to $21.14.</p>
                <p>
A bright spot was provided by International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), whose stock jumped 2.2 percent to $165.86 at the close and helped limit the Dow's loss.</p>
                <p>
IBM hit an intraday high of $167.72, its highest ever when adjusted for stock splits, after a host of analysts raised their target price on the stock. A day earlier, the tech giant reaffirmed its 2015 earnings target.</p>
                <p>
In the oil market, Brent crude gained $2.88 to settle at $115.94 a barrel as turmoil in Libya continued. The higher prices reinforced worries that high energy costs could dampen economic growth.
</p><p>

Copper weighed on miners' shares for a second day, falling 3 percent on investor concerns that elevated crude oil prices could lead to inflation and crimp global growth.
</p><p>

Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold Inc (FCX.N) fell 3.3 percent to $48.45 and has lost more than 7 percent on increasing trading volumes in the last four days.
</p><p>

Volume was about 7.04 billion shares on the Nasdaq, NYSE and AMEX, below the daily average of 8.47 billion for last year.
</p><p>

Advancing and declining stocks were about evenly split on the NYSE, but on the Nasdaq about three stocks fell for every two that rose.
</p><p>

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Additional reporting by Doris Frankel, Ryan Vlastelica, and Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)</p>
            </div></div><p><strong>Read more:</strong> <a class="rssreadon" rel="external" title="Chip sector losses hit Nasdaq; IBM supports Dow   (Reuters)" href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110309/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks" target="_blank">http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110309/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks</a></p>