Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) led the Nasdaq to its highest close in nearly a year on Wednesday.
Amazon soared 8.6 percent on an upbeat Bank of America/Merrill Lynch research note, and Apple was up 3.8 percent after CNBC host Jim Cramer said a smartphone accounting change could boost the company’s earnings by 50 percent. Flextronics (NASDAQ: FLEX) was another gainer on a bullish CNBC mention, up 7.8 percent.
Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) shares fell 6.6 percent after the company announced better than expected quarterly results and the acquisition of Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR), which soared 26 percent.
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) could be a bit of a downer for the market on Thursday. The company lost 2.3 percent ahead of its quarterly results — then fell another 3.5 percent in after-hours trading after its sales came in well below analysts’ estimates.
The chip sector was weak during Wednesday’s trading session, with AMD (NYSE: AMD), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) lower by about 3 percent each on Broadpoint AmTech downgrades on concern about “inflated expectations” for the sector. SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) gained 2.8 percent after being upgraded by the firm.
Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) continued to gain on analysts’ optimism, up 3.6 percent.
A jump in industrial production boosted the broader market to 11-month highs.
The Nasdaq rose 30 to 2133, the S&P 500 gained 16 to 1068, and the Dow was up 108 to 9791. Volume rose to 6.79 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.75 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 31-6 margin on the NYSE, and 19-8 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 84 percent on the NYSE, and 73 percent on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 437-94 on the NYSE, and 150-4 on the Nasdaq.
