By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Facebook Inc. shares jumped
Monday, helping to lead the tech sector higher while Microsoft
shares gave back some earlier gains that had come with the news
last week that CEO Steve Ballmer will retire.
Facebook (FB) climbed 2.2%, to reach $41.44 by early afternoon
-- setting a new intraday high earlier in the session and on pace
for its highest closing price since it controversial IPO last
May.
The social network has surged more than 57% since it reported
its most-recent quarterly results on July 24. Facebook went public
last May at $38 per share.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) shares shed more than 2% earlier in the
session -- though the stock was last down about 0.5% to $34.61. The
stock had jumped on Friday after Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said
he would retire within the next year.
On Monday, VMware Inc. (VMW) said it had hired Microsoft Chief
Information Officer Tony Scott to be CIO and senior vice president
at the cloud-infrastructure and virtualization technology company.
Over the weekend, the AllThingsD technology blog reported that
activist fund ValueAct might continue to press for more
accommodations from the company, like an increased dividend or
buyback.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 0.7% to 3,683,
while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 0.3% and the
Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose by 0.3%.
Other strong gainers included Apple Inc. (AAPL), Groupon Inc.
(GRPN), and BlackBerry (RIMM) .
Shares of two 3D printing firms jumped as Citigroup kicked off
coverage of the pair with buy ratings. In early trades, 3D Systems
Corp. (DDD) was up 10% to $53.28, while Stratasys (SSYS) jumped
nearly 6% to $112.
In a note to clients, analyst Kenneth Wong said he believes the
3D printing market "is on the cusp of seeing much broader adoption
across more upstream production applications and the consumer end
market," which could triple the size of the market within 5
years.
Altera Corp. (ALTR) shares rose nearly 1.9% after Citigroup
upgraded the chipmaker to a buy rating. Software maker Adobe (ADBE)
rose 1.7% after Pacific Crest upgraded the stock to outperform.
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