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From May 2019 to May 2024

By Jeffry Bartash

Early gains fizzled and most telecommunications stocks were flat to lower in Friday action, just days ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Stocks have fallen sharply over the past week amid a slew of poor corporate earnings reports, scores of layoffs and negative U.S. economic data.

The new administration plans to seek a huge stimulus plan to mitigate the effects of a steep recession, but investors are likely to remain anxious until the economy shows signs of stabilization.

In recent trades, AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) tacked lower. Sprint was down the sharpest, about 3% in value.

Several smaller stocks such as Embarq Corp. (EQ), CenturyTel Inc. (CTL) and Windstream Corp. (WIN) edged higher.

In the equipment group, Tellabs Inc. (TLAB) dropped more than 4% and Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) was down 2.5%.

Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) was one of the few notable advancers, up 2.3% at $35.62.

The Dow Jones Wilshire Fixed Line Telecommunications Index fell 0.6% to 870 points.

The Dow Jones Wilshire Telecommunications Equipment Index dipped 0.5% to 3,731 points.

-Jeffry Bartash; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

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