The A’s Have It

Wednesday’s stock market action was brought to you by the letter A.

Altera made investors nervous ahead of mid-quarter updates Thursday by Intel and Texas Instruments when the company delivered a disappointing update of its own. Altera shares fell 8% after the company lowered its gross margin forecast, signaling lower than expected profitability.

Adtran soared 18% after raising earnings and revenue guidance well above Wall Street estimates. The news sent the networking index to a 2.4% gain on the day.

Apple , meanwhile, slipped fractionally after the company released new iPod products that were some of the worst-kept secrets on Wall Street in recent weeks. The new iPod cell phone and iPod nano had been rumored for weeks, and investors had already bid the stock higher in anticipation of the news.

The broader market rose on another steep drop in oil prices.

The Nasdaq rose 5 to 2172, the S&P climbed 3 to 1236, and the Dow added 44 to 10,633. Volume rose to 2.05 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.52 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 17-15 on the NYSE, and 16-13 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 63% on the NYSE, and 64% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 220-18 on the NYSE, and 140-31 on the Nasdaq.

CheckFree gained 4% on an upgrade.

McData added 1% on its results.

Symbol Tech surged 13% after settling a patent dispute.

Optical Cable plunged 17% on its results.