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US close: Techs led stocks higher

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Date: Thursday 15 May 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Stocks rallied after a weak start with tech stocks to the fore helping all three main indices notch up decent gains.

Dow Jones closed up 94 at 12,992. The S&P 500 added 14 points better at 1,423. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite outperformed the other two indices, rising 37 points to 2,533.

The good showing followed early unease as US Industrial Production Index fell 0.7% in April after a downwards revised 0.2% increase in March. Economists had been forecasting a 0.3% April decline. Plant capacity use also fell, to 79.7%, versus expectation of 80.1%. Plant capacity use in March was 80.4%.

The Labor department said unemployment benefit claims rose by 6,000 last week to 371,000, which is in line with expectations.

Bid activity helped turn sentiment. CBS has agreed to buy computer geek web site CNet Networks for around $1.75bn.

Yahoo! was in demand after billionaire financier Carl Icahn threatened to wrest control of the board unless Yahoo! revived merger talks with Microsoft. All 10 Yahoo! directors are up for re-election on July 3, and Icahn has a list of 10 nominees of his own for board seats, backed by his holding of 59m shares. Icahn said he also has permission to acquire a further $2.5bn worth of Yahoo! shares. Intel and Hewlett Packard both made good gains.

Retailer JC Penney predicted difficult conditions for the year and said it will cut its first quarter dividends by a half.

S&P 500 - Risers
Agilent Tech Inc (A) $35.34 +8.64%
Peabody Energy Corp (BTU) $76.59 +7.84%
Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) $23.78 +7.75%
Allegheny Tech New (ATI) $80.70 +7.63%
KB Home (KBH) $26.11 +6.75%
E M C Cp (EMC) $17.79 +6.65%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Celgene Corporation (CELG) $59.29 -2.80%
Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) $51.52 -2.39%
Cbs Corp Cl B (CBS) $24.23 -2.38%
Medcohealth Solutns (MHS) $48.11 -2.14%
Wellpoint Inc. (WLP) $49.88 -2.08%
Stryker Cp (SYK) $62.88 -2.04%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
General Motors (GM) $21.23 +5.15%
Intel Corporation (INTC) $24.98 +4.78%
Hewlett Packard Co (HPQ) $46.73 +2.39%
Jp Morgan Chase Co (JPM) $47.00 +2.37%
Citigroup Inc (C) $23.70 +1.94%
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) $30.47 +1.80%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
United Tech (UTX) $74.29 -1.16%
Wal Mart Stores (WMT) $57.12 -0.57%
Gen Electric Co (GE) $32.35 -0.49%
Bk Of America Cp (BAC) $36.71 -0.24%
Johnson And Johns Dc (JNJ) $66.68 -0.19%

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