The tech sector rose as earnings reports came in generally strong. Microsoft rose after the software giant posted earnings ahead of the Wall Street target, and said its Surface tablet franchise is now in the black. Amazon.com slid as traders recoiled from another quarterly loss caused by investment in new business lines. Amazon also took a $170 million charge on its Amazon Fire smartphone, which was released in July but has reportedly struggled to find buyers. Pandora declined after the online radio service posted subscriber growth shy of Wall Street expectations. "Growing user-growth concerns and ongoing content-cost question marks are likely to keep Pandora range-bound in the low $20s," said an analyst at brokerage Susquehanna.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com