By Benjamin Pimentel
Technology stocks advanced across the board Monday, riding a wave of broader market optimism as gold and other commodities rose sharply and the dollar retreated against most rival currencies.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was up 1.4% to 2,176, as shares of most major tech players posted gains.
The chip sector helped fuel the rally, as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) gained 1.15%.
Part of the reason is the rising expectation of a pickup in the corporate tech market as businesses begin replacing or upgrading aging systems.
Wells Fargo analyst David Wong cited this trend in a Monday note, saying: "Last week's news included further indications of the beginnings of a corporate computer demand pickup and component shortages."
Wong referred to Dell Inc.'s quarterly results. Although its sales and earnings per share "were below expectations," the computer maker (DELL) "achieved 4% sequential growth in large enterprise revenues and 5% for small and medium business sales and the company mentioned component shortages and higher component prices."
Shares of major chip makers on the rise to start the holiday-shortened week included Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Intel Corp. (INTC), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA).
However, shares of Rambus Inc. (RMBS) lost 7.6%.
Dell's shares traded up 3.5%.
Meanwhile, rival Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) saw its shares gain 2%, as the Palo Alto, Calif.-based tech behemoth gears up to release fourth-quarter financial results that analysts expect will point to more stability.
"Our read from industry sources indicates modest upside in services and a bigger upside in its hardware businesses including PCs, servers and printers," Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu said in a note.
H-P's results also could shed more light on the state of the PC market -- and of Dell, which reported results that disappointed investors.
"We believe Dell's miss and most others doing well reinforces our view that Dell's issues are company-specific and not indicative of end-market trends," Wu told clients.
Dell is continuing to lose market share to H-P as well as Apple Inc. (AAPL), Acer and others, he said, "whether in good or bad markets."
Shares of Apple moved up 3%, while other major tech giants also posted gains, including IBM Corp. (IBM), Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and Cisco Systems (CSCO).