Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), EMC (NYSE:EMC), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Ending Year with Whimper

Not unexpectedly, tech stocks like Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), EMC (NYSE:EMC), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) are ending the year with a whimper, as many traders have already closed their books and are looking ahead to the New Year.

Most aren't even considering economic news of any sort in their trading at this time, as they're not trading, as the volumes in the stocks listed above, and most other stocks as well, confirm.

Competing news data released on manufacturing in China and the United States pretty much cancelled each other out, as China was lower than expected and the U.S. numbers were better than expected, although China would have to be considered the most important because of the size of their manufacturing base.

The question for the tech industry is whether it can even come close to the double-digit performance it had this year, and many macro-economic factors continue to appear weak and challenging going forward.

There is also the fact that many companies had pent up tech needs as things got a little better in the second half of 2010, which they may have largely spent on, suggesting a possible tech slowdown in 2011.

Cisco Systems was trading at $20.24, down $0.02, or 0.07 percent, as of 1:12 PM EST. EMC was trading at $22.89, down $0.05, or 0.20 percent. IBM was at $146.50, down $0.02, or 0.01 percent. Hewlett-Packard was at $42.34, up $0.02, or 0.05 percent. Amazon.com was trading at $182.92, down $0.45, or 0.25 percent.