A big gain in Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) shares led tech stocks higher on Wednesday.
Yahoo jumped 10% after a shareholder said the company should sell its search business to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), potentially doubling the value of Yahoo shares.
And the broader market gained as hopes for an automaker bailout won out over worries about the health of credit card companies.
But despite solid gains by the major market indexes, the performance of individual stocks was mixed.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) all lost ground on cautious analyst comments. Apple fell 2% after Morgan Stanley said it expects lower iPhone demand.
TeleTech (NASDAQ: TLTC) plunged 20% on a Stifel Nicolaus downgrade that said the company could suffer if Sprint (NYSE: S) closes call centers.
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) tumbled 12% on a warning.
But Seagate (NYSE: STX) gained 8% despite lowering guidance and announcing plans for a holiday shutdown.
The Nasdaq rose 18 to 1565, the S&P climbed 10 to 899, and the Dow rose 70 to 8761. Volume fell to 6 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 26-11 margin on the NYSE, and 18-10 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 71% on the NYSE, and 64% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 11-101 on the NYSE, and 2-91 on the Nasdaq.