By Rex Crum
Technology stocks rose in afternoon trading Wednesday during a mostly quiet session as the sector awaited earnings results from Cisco Systems Inc. and the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose early and remained up by 14 points at 2,071. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) were also in positive territory.
Among tech stocks, gains came from Dell Inc. (DELL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), IBM Corp. (IBM) and Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN).
Cisco (CSCO) shares rose 24 cents to $23.15 in advance of the networking giant's fiscal first-quarter report, due after the market close. Analysts are expecting Cisco to earn 31 cents a share on $8.7 billion in sales.
Intel Corp. (INTC) shares rose 32 cents to $18.69. Earlier in the day, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed an antitrust suit against the world's largest semiconductor company, charging it with "bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold" on the chip market.
Much of the market waited for the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee, which is scheduled to give its latest decision on U.S. interest rates later in the day.
While most of the tech sector rose, some notable decliners emerged.
STEC Inc. (STEC) shares plunged $8.27, or more than 37%, to $14.60 after the maker of flash-memory storage and solid-state drives said that one of its top customers, EMC Corp. (EMC), would carry its 2009 inventory over into 2010.
The EMC decision is seen as potentially harming STEC's first-quarter results next year and a sign that demand for product replacements could be slowing.
Maxwell Technologies Inc. (MXWL), a maker of power-management technology products, saw its shares fall $2.49, or more than 113%, to $16.49 as analysts at Piper Jaffray cut their rating on the company's stock to underweight from neutral. However, analysts at Needham & Co. raised their rating on Maxwell to buy from hold following the company's third-quarter results and fourth-quarter outlook.