Calm On The Surface; Chaos Beneath

To look at the big picture, you’d think the market was downright tranquil today. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.22 points, or 0.08%, to 1483.27. Ah, a day when nothing happened. Right? Wrong.

Beneath the surface, there are an eye-opening number of stock continue to post horrible losses, often with no obvious explanation. Clearly, there are hedge funds dumping stocks to raise case, investors getting whacked with margin calls and holders simply bailing out of the increasingly scary looking technology sector in search of more stable ground. (Not sure where that ground would be found, though.) Consider this slightly random list of some of today’s big tech decliners, which are noteworthy largely for the lack of obvious news to explain the action in the shares. They went down, because, well, it was their turn to go down:

• Phoenix Technologies (PTEC): Down 69 cents, or 19.9%,