The tech sector rose as investors embraced Japan's monetary policy shift and a relatively strong round of earnings. Sony rallied as investors bet the Japanese exporting giant would benefit from the Bank of Japan's unexpected yen-weakening program of quantitative easing.

LinkedIn rallied after the business-networking site posted stronger-than-anticipated quarterly earnings. Similarly, Groupon surged after the discounter's quarterly sales surpassed the Wall Street peg. GoPro rose after the maker of helment-mounted cameras swung to a quarterly profit on sales growth. Microsoft rose as the software giant unveiled its entry into the market for wearable devices.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com