Santa Clara-based Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA) fell in midday trading today, dropping more than 3.1 percent, the largest drop seen among local stocks tracked by the Examiner. Sunnyvale-based Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) also fell more than 2.6 percent.

San Jose-based SunPower Corp. (SPWR), by contrast, jumped more than 10.3 percent, by far the largest increase of the day. Intuit Surgical Inc. (INTU) was the second largest gainer of the day at 3.8 percent.

The markets showed a mixed performance as of midday, with the Dow Jones up by around 0.2 percent, the Nasdaq down by 0.1 percent and the S&P 500 up by 0.31 percent.

Local companies in the news included Santa Clara-based Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT), which is expected to release results later today, according to Market Watch.

San Ramon-based Chevron Corp. (CVX) reportedly reached a $30 million settlement on fraud charges related to the Iraqi oil-for-food program, according to the Wall Street Journal.