Apple, Microsoft: Tech Winners
Apple, Microsoft: Tech Winners story updated with closing prices.
NEW YORK (
) -- Technology stocks helped lead the broader market Wednesday, which
on news of better-than-expected U.S. job data and other positive economic reports. The
Nasdaq
gained 51 points, or 2.1%, to close at 2,549.
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
rose 1.7% to close at $316.50, boosted by strong sales of its iPad and Mac products over the busy shopping weekend. On Monday, an analyst at Janney called Apple "the Black Friday winner." And a new report from Nielsen said that the iPhone is now tied with
Research In Motion's
(RIMM)
BlackBerry as the most popular smartphones in the U.S.
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
shares increased 3.1% to close at $26.04 as the company announced Monday that it had sold 2.5 million Kinect devices for the Xbox, and was on track to meet its forecast of 5 million units.
Red Hat
(RHT) - Get Report
jumped 6.3% to $46.23. The company said Tuesday that it was acquiring software company
Makara
to strengthen its cloud strategy. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Nokia
(NOK) - Get Report
shot up 4% and closed at $9.60; a Morgan Stanley analyst wrote Tuesday that the company's N8 smartphone is a hit despite fears that the device was selling poorly. Nokia will likely sell 2.5 million N8s this fall and 9 million devices through 2011, the report said.
THQ
(THQI)
closed up 6.9% to $5.43 on Wednesday, as investors reacted positively to the video game company's
for the Wii.
recently increased guidance for the uDraw from 1 million devices to 1.25 to 1.3 million units for the fiscal year. Shares of THQ have jumped almost 16% in the last five days.
--Written by Olivia Oran in New York.
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