NYSE positive on tech stock advances

In New York on Tuesday, the equities markets all finished in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.1 percent to 10,405.63, the S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent to 1,201.57, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.2 percent to 2,069.89.

Factors spurring the advances included a decline in crude oil prices, news that the consumer confidence index and reached a 3-year high, and improvements in the labor market.

Airlines tended to show gains on the news that oil prices were declining. Delta Air Lines advanced 12.8 percent to $3.97, AMR gained 9.3 percent to $12.3, and Air Tran Holdings was up 6.1 percent to $9.47. Some energy stocks fell as investors interpreted lower oil prices as a threat to profits. Amerada Hess was down 3.8 percent to $106.26, while Marathon Oil lost 2.9 percent to $53.96.

The technology sector got more than its share of attention on the equities markets on Tuesday as Advanced Micro Devices announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Intel. The suit charges that Intel forced clients to buy their chips rather than AMD’s product.

While two investigations by the US Federal Trade Commission have been closed without finding any wrongdoing on Intel‘s part, AMD has filed a complaint of anti-competitive practices by Intel to the European Commission and a ruling by the Fair Trade Commission in Japan found that Intel had violated anti-trust laws when it offered rebates to five Japanese companies if they would limit purchases of chips made by AMD. After news of the lawsuit was released, AMD’s shares gained 6.3 percent to $17.70, and Intel’s stock were up by 1.8 percent to $26.33.

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