Stocks rose in pre-holiday trade Friday despite a bigger than expected decline in existing home sales that left no doubt that the housing market remains mired in a year-long slump.
Technology shares led the rebound after leading the way lower on Thursday, with the Nasdaq up half a percent in midday trade.
SourceFource , formerly VA Software, jumped on news of a name change.
RF Micro climbed on a Jefferies & Co. upgrade.
Agilysys , Aruba Networks
, Verigy
and VimpelCom
all gained on their results.
GSI plunged on a warning. Other earnings decliners included Peerless
and Mentor Graphics
.
In midday trade, the Nasdaq was up 12 to 2549, the S&P 500 rose 4 to 1511, and the Dow gained 30 to 13,471. Volume was light and breadth was positive.
