Tech Winners & Losers: Sirius

Updated from 2:09 p.m. EDT with new stock prices

Tech stocks were up Monday despite a spike in oil prices and larger economic concerns that held the broader market in check.

Sirius(SIRI) was up 8 cents, or 3.2%, to $2.62 after the Wall Street Journal reported that the staff of the Federal Communications Commission has recommended the agency clear the company's planned merger with XM Satellite Radio(XMSR). The move could eliminate one of the last few regulatory hurdles to closing the deal that was announced in February 2007.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion(RIMM) was up $8.00, or 6%, to $140.96 after two Wall Street analysts, Citigroup's Jim Suva and American Technology Research's Rob Sanderson, issued upbeat research reports ahead of the company's quarterly earnings report on June 25. Both analysts expect RIM to beat analysts' expectations for the quarter and guide higher.

Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials(AMAT) gained 71 cents, or 3.5%, to $20.80 after the company said it is still interested in buying some business of Dutch company ASM International(ASMI) despite the latter's recent rejection of the offer. Applied Materials had bid between $400 million and $500 million in cash for two of ASM's businesses. ASM's shares were up $2.50, or 9.2%, to $29.61.

Broadcom(BRCM) added $1.03, or 4%, to $26.82 after the company said it has won a patent dispute filed by GPS chip maker Sirf Technology(SIRF). Sirf had claimed that two of its GPS patents were infringed by Global Locate, a company Broadcom acquired in July 2007.

Video-game retailer GameStop(GME) rose $3.38, or 7.6%, to $47.89 after an analyst at Goldman Sachs raised his rating on the stock to neutral from sell. The stock's valuation now reflects more appropriately the belief that the video games industry is headed for a slowdown as some of the year's most anticipated game releases are behind it.

Telecom giants AT&T(T) and Verizon(VZ) lost ground after an analyst at UBS reduced his ratings on the two companies to neutral from buy. The analyst said the slowdown in the U.S. economy will take its toll on the two carriers even as competitive pressures increase.