The debt crisis in Europe, including fears that countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy might default on sovereign debt, also cast a pall on markets. Fears about France-based bank Societe Generale's exposure to debt caused European bank shares to plummet mid-week, after which France banned short-selling on the stock. Concerns that the U.S. financial sector's exposure to the debt crisis in Europe was another factor in U.S. market volatility.

Nevertheless, there were signs of confidence in tech underlying the market storms of the week.

On Tuesday, (number of shares multiplied by price per share), surpassing Exxon Mobil. By Friday afternoon Exxon regained its former leadership with a market cap of $355 billion compared to Apple's $351.5 billion. Nevertheless, Apple's temporary market position made it the first time a computer company was the most valued business in the world, signalling a vote of confidence not only in the company but in IT's ability to make sales gains even in tough economic times.

Other positive signs for IT this week included:

--For the quarter ending July 31, chip maker Nvidia announced a year-over-year, 5.7 percent increase in revenue, to $1.01 billion. Net income was $151.6 million compared to a loss of $141 million during the year-earlier period.