3 Tech Stocks Making News on an Awful Nasdaq Day

The Nasdaq (INDEX: ^IXIC) was off 1.17% today. Although the day's drop wasn't the result of a tech giant bombing earnings, recent poor Nasdaq showings were caused in large part by tech giants such as Cisco, Dell, and NetApp -- among others -- delivering earnings duds.

Yet the root cause is all the same. Tech stocks are bombing earnings in large part because of weak guidance. Companies are putting a crimp on spending until there's more clarity on the direction Europe's headed. Likewise, the market was brought down today by a fresh downgrade on Spanish debt. That brought about rising yields on Spain and Italy's debt, and brought back another fresh reminder that beyond woes in Greece, there's a whole group of countries that could need help along the Mediterranean.

Drilling down on the tech world --- three companies with heavy action
The drama surrounding Facebook (NAS: FB) continued today. There wasn't as much action on the stock as yesterday, when options on the company began trading. No matter -- the company still notched the highest volume of all Nasdaq stocks. Its 57.2 million once again passed the PowerShares QQQ (NAS: QQQ) and Sirius XM, the two usual kings of Nasdaq volume. All that trading amounted to a 2.25% loss.

However, while there was still a huge amount of volume and discussion of Facebook, the real action was at the All Things Digital conference held out in California. Today we saw Zynga's (NAS: ZNGA) Mark Pincus discuss the company's close relationship with Facebook. Zynga accounts for 12% of Facebook's revenue and the lion's share of its "payments" stream of revenue.

Pincus intimated a desire to move away from Facebook, but that's easier said than done. The company's recent deeper push into mobile -- buying OMGPOP, the inventor of Draw Something -- hasn't worked out as that game peaked in popularity the day Zynga bought them and has since shed users.

Also making an appearance at the conference to much fanfare was Apple (NAS: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, who took the stage yesterday. Cook promised even more secrecy from Apple, saying he wants to "double down" on it. That's quite the goal coming from a company already known for its fanatical devotion to secrecy in its product development. The quote was no doubt sparked by the amount of leaks out of Apple's massive supply chain. Foxconn's chairman was recently quoted as saying that the company was preparing a new Apple TV. After the news, he quickly disavowed any such remarks about the television. I'm sure Cook wasn't happy, but such is the reality of having a spectacularly efficient yet large supply chain.

Finally, if you're looking for the best tech information you could find today, I'll point you to Mary Meeker's always exceptional annual presentation of coming Internet trends that was unveiled at the All Things Digital conference today. It's full of great trends and is required reading for tech investors.

One trend for the road
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At the time thisarticle was published Eric Bleeker owns shares of Cisco. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Apple and creating a bull call spread position in Apple.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended creating a ratio put spread position in PowerShares QQQ. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days.

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