MIDDAY MARKETS: Economic data sparks rally

Cisco Systems led technology stocks into a full-blown rally at midday Monday as economic data helped boost confidence that the United States can steer clear of a recession.

The Nasdaq rose 82.79 points to 2,158.47, and the Dow Jones industrial average gained 88.30 points to 10,898.41. The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index fell 12 to 195.52.

In economic news, U.S. income growth in March outpaced spending for the second month in a row, according to a Commerce Department report released Monday. Personal income grew at a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent annual rate in March, matching February's pace. The news lifted prospects that the U.S. economy can avoid a recession.

"There's a general feeling the economy's better than we were giving it credit for, and that's good news for the market," Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. told Reuters. The analyst added that the lack of any major earnings disappointments also soothed traders' nerves.

Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), up $1.64, or 11 percent, to $17.24, was leading the Nasdaq, along with others networking sector stocks, including Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN), up $5.13 to $55.42, and JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq: JDSU), up $2.41 to $21.67.

BroadVision (Nasdaq: BVSN) shares added 13 percent Monday on news that retailing giant Wal-Mart will use its e-commerce software.

Business-to-business company Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA), up 55 cents to $7.94, named a new CEO. Larry Mueller will replace co-founder Keith Krach in that position.

Comverse Technology (Nasdaq: CMVT), down $1.49 to $68.62, said it will reduce staff by 6 percent, but said it will meet previously announced sales and earnings figures for the first quarter and fiscal year.

Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) was up 1.39 to 16.66, AOL Time Warner (NYSE: AOL) gained $1.40 to $51.39 and Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) was up 67 cents to $20.17.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) fell 92 cents to $31.10, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) rose $1.33 to $68.45 and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) was up 48 cents to $17.63.

ZDII staff and Reuters contributed to this roundup.