Technolgy shares higher midsession on Wall St

Technology shares were higher midsession as encouraging reports on the health of the economy prompted investors to snap up Nasdaq stocks, dealers said.

But volumes were thin however, with many investors taking an early holiday ahead of this weekend's religious festivals.

At 11.36 am in New York, the Nasdaq composite was up 18.14 points, or 0.99%, at 1,844.89, while the Nasdaq 100 was 16.07 higher, or 1.12%, at 1,452.58.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor (Sox) index was up 13.87 points, or 2.39%, at 595.42.

On the broader market, the DJIA was up 29.06 points, or 0.28%, at 10,455.97, while the S&P 500 was 5.61 points higher, or 0.49%, at 1,150.19.

The gains came as new figures showed that consumers remain buoyant and the economy grew at a faster-than-expected rate last quarter.

Fourth-quarter GDP figures out today showed that the economy grew 1.7% in the final three months of 2001. GDP rose an unexpectedly strong 1.7% in the fourth quarter. That was higher than both preliminary estimates and economists' forecasts, which called for a 1.4% rise.

Elsewhere, the University of Michigan's final March reading on consumer confidence rose above forecasts, coming in at 95.7 up from an earlier estimate of 95.0.

According to Jay Susskind, a market strategist with Ryan Beck & Co, trading volumes have been thin ahead of this week's religious holidays.

"The data has been good, but many investors have taken an early holiday so volumes have been thin," he said.

Among the risers, Intel was up $0.49, or 1.61%, at 30.90 while Microsoft was up 0.96 or 1.62% at 60.40. IBM was 0.96 or 0.95% higher at 104.37.

In computer networking, Juniper was higher, recovering earlier losses prompted by the company's profit warning last night. Its stock was up 0.42, or 3.52%, at 12.34.

Hewlett Packard and Compaq shares were in focus after the HP board member opposed to the companies' planned merger, Walter Hewlett, sued HP over how the firm solicited shareholders ahead of the investor vote on the deal.

HP was up 0.02 or 0.11% at 17.79 while Compaq was down 0.33 or 3.11% at 10.27.