By Benjamin Pimentel
Tech stocks came to life in late action Thursday, as the sector
turned its back on earlier losses that had been fueled by negative
reaction to earnings reports from eBay Inc. and EMC Corp.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) climbed 13 points
to 2,163, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) also climbed into positive
territory.
EBay (EBAY) still remained off by $1.04 a share, or 4%, at
$23.99 a day after the company also issued a weaker-than-expected
outlook.
EMC Corp. (EMC) also fell, giving up 25 cents a share to trade
at $17.26 after the storage-technology company reported lower
third-quarter profit.
However, shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) turned around to rise 45
cents to $205.39 after earlier trading in the red.
Nokia Corp. (NOK) filed suit against Apple, alleging the iPhone
violates 10 Nokia technology patents.
Other companies on the rise included Hewlett-Packard (HPQ),
Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Google Inc. (GOOG) and Advanced Micro Devices
(AMD).
Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and communications-chip
maker Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) both saw their shares rise ahead of
quarterly results due after the market close.
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) rose $1.33 a share, or 3.7%, to $36.19
after the semiconductor equipment maker reported a higher quarterly
profit.
Gains also came from Dell Inc. (DELL), IBM Corp. (IBM) and Cisco
Systems (CSCO).
Shares of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) fell 4 cents to $26.54 on the
day it launched Windows 7, the latest version of its flagship PC
operating system.