TECH STOCKS: Texas Instruments, Palm Lead Tech Sector Higher

By Benjamin Pimentel

The tech sector edged higher Thursday, led by Texas Instruments and Palm Inc., pushing the Nasdaq Composite Index back above the 2,000 mark.

After a shaky start, the Nasdaq (RIXF) gained 0.5% to close at 2,009.

The tech-heavy index was aided by gains from Palm Inc. (PALM) which were up 5.5%.

Texas Instruments (TXN) also traded up 2.8% after the chip giant was upgraded by Baird to neutral from underperform.

"Texas Instruments should continue to benefit from strong sell-in analog trends in the third quarter, and inventory replenishment dynamics at distributors in the second-half as lead times continue to expand," analyst Tristan Gerra said in a note.

TI's gains helped boost the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) which advanced 2.2%, as shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Intel Corp. (INTC) also rose.

Apple (AAPL) was up 1.9%, while Dell Inc. (DELL) rose 3.25%.

Shares of Tellabs Inc. (TLAB) were up 9.95% after the communications equipment company was upgraded to outperform from market perform by Morgan Keegan.

Meanwhile, Amazon.com (AMZN) staggered into negative territory, its shares down 1.6%.

Also in the red were shares of SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) and eBay Inc. (EBAY).