By Rex Crum
Technology stocks put in a strong performance Thursday, with
semiconductor stocks leading the day's advance following an upbeat
report on chip-equipment sales and some positive economic data from
both the U.S. and Europe.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF), which lists many bellwether
tech stocks, climbed almost 60 points, or 2.8%, to close at 2,218.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose almost 4% and the
Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) ended the day up by nearly
3%.
Semiconductor stocks were among the biggest percentage gainers
in the tech sector following an upbeat forecast on spending for
semiconductor equipment from Gartner Inc. The Gartner report said
that worldwide spending on semiconductor gear should grow 113% over
the $16.6 billion spent in 2009.
Gartner said demand for new chip technologies and devices should
give the market a boost through the rest of the year. However,
Gartner also warned that growth will likely not keep up such a hot
pace in 2011.
Among chip stocks, Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) rose $2.34, or
6.3%, to $39.41, Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) was up 34 cents, or
2.8%, to close at $12.53, Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS) rose $1.68 a
share, or almost 7%, to $26.32 and STMicroelectronics (STM) rose 52
cents, or 6.6%, to $8.42.
Gains also came from Intel Corp. (INTC), Nvidia Corp. (NVDA),
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) and Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN).
A slip in initial U.S. unemployment claims, as well as gains by
the euro against the U.S. dollar, was also seen as fueling
investors' enthusiasm.
Advances also came from IBM Corp. (IBM), Apple Inc. (AAPL), Dell
Inc. (DELL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Google Inc. (GOOG).