Hot Money Seeks Tech

It seems the early disappointments from Apple(AAPL Quote) and Intel (INTC Quote) last week were really a matter of the market's mood.

By contrast, Wednesday's earnings were greeted with open arms, helping drive the Nasdaq. Sun Microsystems(SUNW Quote) shares gained 8.1% and Yahoo!'s(YHOO Quote) shares gained 7.6% on well-received earnings reports. A stellar report from RF Micro Devices(RFMD Quote) sent its shares up 13%.

Other large-cap Nasdaq staples rebounded from recent routs. Intel, Microsoft(MSFT Quote), and Cisco Systems(CSCO Quote) gained over 1% each on the day.

After the closing bell, eBay(EBAY Quote), which had gained 4.5% in the trading session, was soaring another 8.9% in after-hours trading on its earnings.

Big Board-traded technology supported the S&P 500 as well. Shares of Corning(GLW Quote) jumped 11% on its report of strong demand for liquid-crystal display TV screens. Shares of semiconductor company LSI Logic(LSI Quote) and information infrastructure company EMC(EMC Quote) jumped 3% and 4.9%, respectively.

Energy and materials stocks were not left out. Alcoa(AA Quote), Exxon Mobil(XOM Quote), DuPont(DD Quote), and Caterpillar(CAT Quote) all helped out the Dow.

Financial stocks also were strong Wednesday as shares of Goldman Sachs(GS Quote), JPMorgan(JPM Quote), and Morgan Stanley(MS Quote) all reached new 52-week highs.

The stock market rallied as the average yield of a high-yield bond hit a relatively low 7.42%, according to Merrill Lynch. "You could call it the medium-yield market," says Brian Hessel, managing partner at Stonegate Capital.