By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Leading tech stocks such as Apple
Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. rose in early trading Thursday, and the
overall sector got a boost from a bigger-than-expected revision to
U.S. second-quarter growth.
The nation's gross domestic product rose by an annual rate of
2.5% during the period between April and June, beating the
government's first reading as well as economists' revised
expectations.
Among bellwether tech stocks, Amazon (AMZN) rose 1% to $284.27.
The online retailer said Thursday it has opened a Kindle book store
in Mexico, with more than 70,000 Spanish-language titles
available.
Apple (AAPL) rose almost 1%, to $495.17, Facebook Inc. (FB) was
up by more than 2%, at $41.47 a share, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
shares edged up by 22 cents, to $33.24 and Google Inc. (GOOG) rose
by 1%, to $858 a share.
Google was also getting attention in a different way, amid
reports that company co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife, Anne
Wojcicki, have separated after six years of marriage.
Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM) moved into positive territory, rising
by 9 cents a share to $42.86 ahead of the subscription
business-software company's quarterly results, due after the close
of trading.
Chipmaker Altera Corp. (ALTR) rose 2%, to $35.53 a share. Late
Wednesday, Altera's board of directors authorized adding another 30
million shares to the company's stock buyback plan.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) gained 36 points, or 1%, to
3,629. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up by
1.4%.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires