By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- An afternoon surge at Dell Inc.
added to already strong gains for the tech sector on Wednesday,
following a report that investor activist Car Icahn has taken a
large position in the PC maker.
Dell (DELL) shares jumped nearly 2% to $14.34 after CNBC
reported that Icahn purchased nearly 100 million of the company's
shares. The move comes as the company is battling some of its
larger shareholders over a pending privatization deal that values
Dell at $13.65 per share.
Dell's gains added to the lift for the sector, which was already
enjoying its second session of gains that put the Dow to a fresh
record high. Dow components Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) led the way with gains of more than 2%
each, along with strong upticks by Intel Corp.(INTC) and
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)
Those four tech bellwethers' gains added to the Dow Jones
Industrial Average's (DJI) advance, with the index up by 58 points
at last check. Also helping give the market a boost were the latest
numbers on private-sector jobs from Automatic Data Processing Inc.
The ADP report said the private sector added a better-than-expected
198,000 jobs in February. See: Private-sector jobs growth beats
expectations.
A notable decliner was Apple Inc. (AAPL) which was down nearly
1% to $427.25 a share after Citigroup and Barclays Capital both cut
their price targets on the stock, citing projections for lower
iPhone and iPad sales in the March quarter. Read: Apple targets cut
as brokers see slowdown
Among other tech stocks, Tibco Software Inc. (TIBX) shares rose
more than 10%, to $23.12, after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch
analyst Kash Ragan raised his rating on the company to buy from
neutral and reiterated his price target of $26 a share. Ragan said
that with Tibco not warning on its quarterly results before the
report's March 21 release, the potential for a negative report has
been limited.
Groupon Inc. (GRPN) fell more than 4% to $5.38 after an earlier
gain. On Tuesday, Groupon Chief Financial Officer Jason Child told
a tech conference that the company wasn't planning on any major
changes in strategy as it searches for a new CEO. See: Groupon
faces questions about future direction.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) shares were trimmed by 0.7%. On
Wednesday, the European Union fined the software giant $733 million
for failing to offer consumers a choice of Web browser other than
Microsoft's own Explorer with new versions of the Windows operating
system.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was last up a fraction to
3,225, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 0.2%
and the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) rose 0.5%.
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