The stock market was engaged in a tug of war on Friday, as major market benchmarks did their best to hold onto their hard-earned gains from earlier in the week. As of 11 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) was the only one of the major indexes to see a slight uptick, having posted the best year-to-date returns four weeks into 2023.

Even as many Nasdaq-listed stocks managed to post gains, there were a couple of key companies in the semiconductor space that dragged on its performance. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and KLA (NASDAQ: KLAC) were both among the biggest decliners on the Nasdaq, and together, they painted a downbeat picture that pulled some other semiconductor stocks lower as well.

Shares of Intel were down 8% on Friday morning. The semiconductor pioneer reported fourth-quarter financial results late Thursday that showed the full impact of the weakness in the PC market on its overall operations.

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Source Fool.com