Though tech bellwethers during the last month have reported strong earnings, market watchers have feared that spending on IT could be curbed this year by slow economic growth and the specter of a sovereign debt default in Greece, which would likely send financial markets into a tailspin.
But positive economic news pushed markets up Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 12,904.08, up by 123.13, hitting its highest point in four years, before the implosion of Wall Street in the third quarter of 2008. The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended up at 2,959.85, up 44.04, its highest point in 11 years. The S&P rose by 14.81 to close at 1,358.04, its highest point in nine months. At the start of trading Friday some major indexes were up, though the Nasdaq slipped somewhat -- not unusual after a day of big gains.
The U.S. Labor Department Thursday said initial jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 11 were 348,000, less than the prior week's total of 361,000. Meanwhile, European central banks are ready to convert their holdings of Greek bonds into new bond issues in a move to pave the way for a private sector debt deal, according to reports from Reuters and other news organizations.
Tech companies grabbed a lion's share of the rewards on the good news. The Nasdaq Computer stock index Thursday was up by 30.29 points to 1,598.83. Four of the top five most actively traded companies on the exchange were tech vendors, all of which experienced share price increases: Microsoft shares rose 4.11 percent; Nvidia closed up by 1.37 percent; Cisco shares rose 1.4 percent and Intel shares increased 0.92 percent.
Another winner was Apple, experiencing a 0.91 percent uptick in its share price, which closed at US$502.21. Apple shares crossed the $500 mark earlier in the week, for the first time in its history. Last year it became the most valued company on the planet in terms of market capitalization (share price multiplied by number of shares on the market), passing Exxon Mobil. Apple jumped $3.00 in early morning trading Friday.