By Rex Crum
Tech stocks tried to find their footing in Monday's market
session as the sector sought to add to the previous session's
gains, yet mirrored the broad-market concerns about the ongoing
financial crisis in Europe.
Among tech-sector leaders, Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose $6 a share, or
2.5%, to $248.45. The company confirmed that Chief Executive Steve
Jobs would deliver the keynote address at Apple's annual
developers' conference on June 7.
Gains also came from Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), Oracle Corp.
(ORCL), EMC Corp. (EMC), Google Inc. (GOOG) and Amazon.com Inc.
(AMZN)
Dell Inc. (DELL) rose 44 cents a share, or 3%, to $13.76,
recouping some of the its losses resulting from negative reaction
to the PC giant's report on its quarterly gross margins.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) showed some life, rising 6
points to 2,234. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and
the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) eked out small
gains.
The broad market was a bit on edge from the latest fears about
debt problems in the euro zone, and the rescue of a Spanish savings
bank.
IBM Corp. (IBM) gave up 57 cents a share to trade at $124.90
after saying it pay $1.4 billion in cash to acquire Sterling
Commerce from AT&T Inc. (T). Sterling makes software that
allows companies to buy and sell products and interact with their
vendors.
Small declines also came from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Adobe
Systems Inc. (ADBE) and Seagate Technology (STX).