Semiconductor downturn hits chip stocks

Despite last week’s rebound, technology stocks are in free fall as chip makers foreshadow new difficulties for the sector.

The market for chips, which are used in numerous electronic gadgets like mobile phones, is slowing down, according to a number of business warnings, and semiconductor stocks are plunging as a result.

Philadelphia Semiconductor Index Falls 11% in Four Weeks

Investors are worried that the order slowdown, which is already affecting producers of memory chips used in personal computers, may spread to the rest of the semiconductor sector.

“There are real worries that the semiconductor cycle has started to go downhill and that demand is waning.” According to Jason Benowitz, senior fund manager at Roosevelt Investments Group in New York, “we expect technology to do worse if the downturn is deeper, longer, and more pervasive.”