Stocks rose Friday on news that the U.S. unemployment rate fell for the first time in 15 months, but a few big-name tech stocks were left out of the rally.
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) ended the day slightly lower despite a 1.4 percent gain in the Nasdaq, while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) added a mere 0.4 percent.
HP (NYSE: HPQ) gained 3 percent on a Stifel Nicolaus buy rating ahead of the company’s quarterly earnings report on Aug. 18.
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) gained 4.5 percent on its earnings report, while Computer Sciences (NYSE: CSC) added 1.6 percent on its results.
51job (NASDAQ: JOBS) soared after exceeding its revenue forecast, but VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) and Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) tumbled after missing earnings estimates.
The broader market rose on a better than expected July jobs loss of 247,000 and an unexpected dip in the unemployment rate to 9.4 percent, but there was evidence that many people gave up looking for work, and the ranks of the long-term unemployed hit a new record.
The Nasdaq rose 27 to 2000, the S&P 500 gained 13 to 1010, and the Dow jumped 113 to 9370. Volume rose to 6.98 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.52 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 28-9 margin on the NYSE, and 19-7 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 80 percent on the NYSE, and 65 percent on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 143-70 on the NYSE, and 67-10 on the Nasdaq.
