TECH STOCKS: Microsoft, Yahoo Among Tech Advancers

By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. gained Thursday as the tech sector rose along with the broader market in the wake of the latest data on consumer spending and initial jobless claims.

Microsoft (MSFT) shares rose 1% to $34.66, a day after Chief Executive Steve Ballmer kicked off the company's Build developers conference in San Francisco. Ballmer used his keynote presentation to describe Microsoft's new "rapid release" approach to updating its Windows operating system and working with developers.

Yahoo (YHOO) also put in a solid performance, with its stock rising 2% to $25.78. Gains also came from Facebook Inc. (FB), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and IBM Corp. (IBM).

Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares rose $1.43 to $399.41 despite Susquehanna analyst Chris Caso cutting his price target on the company's stock to $440 a share from $480.

Seagate Technology (STX) shares rose 5% to $44.79 after Longbow Research analyst Joseph Wittine raised his rating on the hard disk-drive maker to buy from neutral. Seagate's top rival, Western Digital Corp. (WDC), was up 3%.

Technology-products supplier CDW Corp. (CDW) climbed almost 9% to $18.48 as the company held its IPO. CDW sold 23.3 million shares at $17 each after lowering its target price to $17 to $18 a share.

The tech-sector gains helped lift the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) by 28 points to 3,404. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 1%.

Helping spur investor sentiment were the data on initial unemployment-insurance claims for May, as well as the Commerce Department saying that consumer spending also went up last month.

Paychex Inc. (PAYX) was off by almost 5% at $36.14 after the payroll and human resource-software and services company reported weaker-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results on Wednesday.

Tremor Video Inc. (TRMR) shares shed 2% to trade at $9.78, as the video-advertising software company made its public debut. Tremor priced 7.5 million at $10 each, which was below the expected IPO range of $11 to $13 a share.

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