By Benjamin Pimentel
The tech sector was off to a slightly higher start Tuesday as
gains from SanDisk Corp. helped keep the Nasdaq Composite Index in
the green.
SanDisk (SNDK) was ahead more than 2%, helping boost the Nasdaq
(RIXF) by a fraction to 2,029.
The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) also were each up a fraction.
Other gainers included Intel Corp. (INTC), Amazon.com (AMZN),
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).
Google Inc. (GOOG) rose 0.9% after being upgraded by ThinkEquity
to buy.
But the sector was weighed down by other major tech players,
including Dell Inc. (DELL), Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Palm Inc.
(PALM).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained more than 70
points as Wall Street reacted to Ben Bernanke's reappointment as
chairman of the Federal Reserve and to better-than-anticipated
home-price data.