Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Weighs Tech Sector, while Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) Hits New High – CLWR, GRPN, EBAY, KITD, PCS, EXPE, LNKD

The tech sector is trading flat on Thursday with Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) reumed its downward movement, while Sprint Nextel Corporation(NYSE:S) and Clearwire Corporation(NASDAQ:CLWR) are the notable winners. Technology SPDR (ETF)(NYSEARCA:XLK) is down 0.10%.

Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL)’s shares resumed downtrend after yesterday’s slight retreat, and the stock was recently down 1.55% to $631.14. The stock has lost almost 10% from its life time high of $705.07 on Sep 21, 2012 just after the launch of iPhone 5.

This morning, there was a good news for its biggest rival, Samsung, where the court has given green signal to Samsung to continue selling its latest Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the US. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has approved Samsung’s appeal to lift a ban set by lower court on sales. Samsung wishes to continue selling the phone while challenging a federal judges’ ruling as on 29th June that Apple was likely to win its lawsuit that claimed that Galaxy Nexus violated four Apple patents.

Recently, there have been lot of talk about the company’s potential  to innovate further for its next generation iPhone. The reason is that the company’s latest iPhone was failed to impress its investors due to limited features addition and highly criticized Apple Maps, which was replaced from earlier Google Maps. In fact, today Google Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG)’s chairman Eric Schmidt has iterated what he said earlier in the aftermath of the release of Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone5 and the criticism levelled at its mapping software - "Apple should have kept our Maps."

However, still there are some who thinks that the stock is still a good buy at current market price and find it as a good buying opportunity.

Sprint Nextel Corporation(NYSE:S) is making news today as the company confirmed that it has been negotiating a deal with Softbank. Softbank Corp is expected to invest over 1 trillion yen ($12.8 billion) as per the report.

Sprint Nextel is the third-largest U.S. carrier with over 56 million users at end-June and market cap of $15.62 billion of Wednesday’s session.

An analyst at Roe Equity Research estimates Sprint to get an offer of $6.40 a share, witnessing a 27% premium to Wednesday’s closing price.

Shares of Sprint soared 12.40% to $5.66, off its new high of $6.04.

Sprint’s news is pushing Clearwire Corporation(NASDAQ:CLWR) higher as well with the stock soared 52% to $1.97 as Sprint hold 49% of the struggling company. The stock has tripped up circuit breakers

Shares of PCS pared its entire 9% loss for the session and were recently trading flat at $12.01.

KIT digital, Inc.(NASDAQ:KITD) plunged 13% and made a new low although no news has hit the wires explaining the move. Over the course of 2012, KIT has seen management changes, board changes, job cuts, and a 4,000-mile HQ move.

Groupon Inc(NASDAQ:GRPN) shares are rebounding after yesterday’s slump on news that eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) has ventured into what was previously Groupon Inc(NASDAQ:GRPN)’s territory – it has revamped its website and turned it into an online platform for lucrative deals on local services. Shares of GRPN are up over 4%.

Expedia Inc(NASDAQ:EXPE) fell 2.22% after ITG Research claims the company's Q3 domestic sales are tracking to $640M, below a $643M consensus.

Linkedin Corporation(NYSE:LNKD) surged 2.24% after ITG forecasts Q3 revenue will come in at $255M, soundly above a $244M consensus. The business social networking leader has delivered a string of revenue beats, and the Street seems to be pricing in another one.