RIM, Red Hat Spark Rally

Better than expected results from Research in Motion and Red Hat put investors in a holiday mood on Thursday.

RIM shares jumped 10.6% after the company’s results and guidance beat Wall Street estimates. The only downside was that the company’s subscriber growth suffered somewhat from its high-profile patent battle with NTP, but investors were cheered by the otherwise solid results.

Red Hat, meanwhile, rose 4.7% on a big jump in Linux subscription revenue.

Gains in the broader market were driven by a personal income and spending report that showed little inflation pressure.

The Nasdaq rose 14 to 2246, the S&P 500 added 5 to 1268, and the Dow climbed 55 to 10,889. Volume fell to 1.89 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.54 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 20-12 on the NYSE, and 19-11 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 65% on the NYSE, and 72% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 101-95 on the NYSE, and 114-46 on the Nasdaq.

Micron lost 3.5% on weak DRAM pricing, but that didn’t hold back the chip sector , which gained more than 1% on the day.

Tibco and Cognos rose on their results.