Tech Shares Fall On Retreat From Risk - Tech Roundup

Shares of tech companies declined as traders fled the riskier corners of the market in the wake of terrorist attacks and political upheaval. Lenovo Group, the Chinese company that's one of the world's largest personal-computer makers, said a sustained increase in memory-chip prices pushed the company into its first quarterly loss in nearly two years. Uber Technologies' former chief executive Travis Kalanick fired back against a lawsuit from one of the ride-hailing firm's biggest investors, saying Benchmark Capital is engaged in a personal attack that threatens to further damage the company. One analyst questioned the conventional wisdom that lofty valuations in the technology sector this year are comparable to those in 2000. "Technology companies today are the modern-day industrials, the importance of technology companies within the broader economy is understated when comparing today versus 2000," said Dave Gedeon, head of index research and development at Nasdaq, in an e-mail. "The integration of the names within Nasdaq-100 in the daily working and social lives of the global citizen is immeasurable." Contemporary technology companies also pay out a lot of money to shareholders as compared with the equivalent 100 companies in 2000, Mr. Gedeon said. The companies of the Nasdaq 100 paid out about $60 billion a year in dividends in 2016, compared with $2 billion in 2003.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 18, 2017 17:00 ET (21:00 GMT)