By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.
gained Thursday as the tech sector rose along with the broader
market in the wake of the latest data on consumer spending and
initial jobless claims.
Microsoft (MSFT) shares rose 1% to $34.66, a day after Chief
Executive Steve Ballmer kicked off the company's Build developers
conference in San Francisco. Ballmer used his keynote presentation
to describe Microsoft's new "rapid release" approach to updating
its Windows operating system and working with developers.
Yahoo (YHOO) also put in a solid performance, with its stock
rising 2% to $25.78. Gains also came from Facebook Inc. (FB),
Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and IBM Corp.
(IBM).
Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares rose $1.43 to $399.41 despite
Susquehanna analyst Chris Caso cutting his price target on the
company's stock to $440 a share from $480.
Seagate Technology (STX) shares rose 5% to $44.79 after Longbow
Research analyst Joseph Wittine raised his rating on the hard
disk-drive maker to buy from neutral. Seagate's top rival, Western
Digital Corp. (WDC), was up 3%.
Technology-products supplier CDW Corp. (CDW) climbed almost 9%
to $18.48 as the company held its IPO. CDW sold 23.3 million shares
at $17 each after lowering its target price to $17 to $18 a
share.
The tech-sector gains helped lift the Nasdaq Composite Index
(RIXF) by 28 points to 3,404. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
(SOX) rose 1%.
Helping spur investor sentiment were the data on initial
unemployment-insurance claims for May, as well as the Commerce
Department saying that consumer spending also went up last
month.
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) was off by almost 5% at $36.14 after the
payroll and human resource-software and services company reported
weaker-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results on
Wednesday.
Tremor Video Inc. (TRMR) shares shed 2% to trade at $9.78, as
the video-advertising software company made its public debut.
Tremor priced 7.5 million at $10 each, which was below the expected
IPO range of $11 to $13 a share.
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