By Rex Crum
Technology stocks continued to flex their muscles in afternoon
trading Monday as Apple Inc. took the spotlight following the
resignation of director Eric Schmidt and the tech-heavy Nasdaq
Composite Index pushed closer toward ending the day above the
2,000-point mark.
The Nasdaq (RIXF) climbed 20 points to 1,998 in an attempt to
close above 2,000 for the first time since last October. The Morgan
Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 1.3% and the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) was also up about 1%.
Gains came from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Dell Inc. (DELL), IBM
Corp. (IBM), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and Intel Corp. (INTC).
Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares rose $2.40 to $165.77. Before the
market opened, Apple said that Google Inc. (GOOG) Chief Executive
Eric Schmidt had resigned from Apple's board of directors. In a
statement Apple CEO Steve Jobs said it was the "right time" for
Schmidt to leave Apple's board because of growing competition
between the two companies.
Google recently said it would launch its own computer operating
system, potentially competing against Apple, and Apple also blocked
the new Google Voice application for wireless devices from being
able to be used on the iPhone.
Google shares rose $7.35 to $435.51.
Semiconductor stocks got a lift after following the latest sales
figures from the Semiconductor Industry Association trade
group.
The SIA said that while worldwide chip sales fell 20% in the
second quarter from a year ago, the $51.7 billion in sales were up
17% from the first quarter of the year. The SIA also said chip
sales rose for the fourth-consecutive month.
Among chip stocks, gains came from Micron Technology Inc. (MU),
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Applied
Materials Inc. (AMAT).