Chips Lag On Book-To-Bill Data

Stocks capped an eventful week on an up note on Friday, but chip stocks barely joined the party.

The Philadelphia semiconductor index was up 0.23% on the day, after Semiconductor Equipment and Material International reported that orders contracted in July for the third straight month. However, at a 1.05 to 1 book-to-bill ratio, orders continues to outpace shipments, and SEMI said that orders remain at the highest levels since early 2001.

Applied Materials and KLA-Tencor posted modest gains on the day, but Intel declined almost 2%.

The broader market posted strong gains as oil prices finally fell.

The Nasdaq surged 18 to 1838, the S&P 500 gained 7 to 1098, and the Dow rose 69 to 10,110. Volume declined to 1.2 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.35 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 24-8 on the NYSE, and 22-8 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 82% on the NYSE, and 73% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 99-13 on the NYSE, and 41-47 on the Nasdaq.

AutoDesk and Marvell jumped 10% each after beating estimates.

Salesforce.com and Sycamore rose on their earnings reports.

Novell , McData and Blue Coat fell on their results.

China.com , off 4%, became the latest company to face sanctions from China Mobile.

Cisco slipped as Juniper gained market share.

And Google closed at $108 in its second day of trading – the bottom of the initial proposed IPO range before the company slashed the offering terms.