MARKET CLOSE: Tech rally continues

Technology stocks gained ground Tuesday as the Nasdaq composite moved up 82 points to finish at 2,840.38. The Dow Jones industrial average also made nice gains, picking up 72 points to close at 10,649.81.

For the year, the Nasdaq has added more than 400 points despite weaker-than-expected earnings and profit warnings from tech bellwethers.

“Most of the companies that were going to report disappointing earnings or had warnings have already issued them,” said Stanley Nabi, managing director of Credit Suisse Asset Management. “It's setting up a good tone for the market.”

Intel (INTC) shares moved up $2 to $35.58 while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and IBM (IBM) gained $1 and 50 cents a share, respectively.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) gained $1.31 to $27.75 after it said earnings for its fourth quarter were 74 cents a share, two pennies above Wall Street's consensus estimate. But the company also sees a slowdown ahead.

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) shed $3.56 to $45 after its disappointing quarterly report Monday.

Data storage giant EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) rose $3.06 to $79.56 after it handily beat consensus estimates for earnings and revenue in the fourth quarter. The company reported earnings of $563 million, or 25 cents a share, on revenue of $2.62 billion.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) picked up 88 cents to $26.38; Gateway (GTW) rose 70 cents to $22.15; Compaq (CPQ) moved up 23 cents to $20.05 and Apple Computer (AAPL) finished up $1.25 to $20.50.

Openwave (Nasdaq: OPWV) shot up $13 to $66.25 after a hefty upside earnings surprise in its latest quarter.

Yahoo (YHOO) stormed up $4.27 to $38.95. America Online (AOL) inched up 31 cents to $54.15 while eBay (EBAY) and Amazon.com (AMZN) gained $2.94 and 45 cents a share, respectively.

FreeMarkets (Nasdaq: FMKT) plunged $5 to $21.69 despite beating fourth quarter estimates and boosting its outlook for the next quarter. Analysts found a few items to complain about in an otherwise strong quarter.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) jumped $1.19 to $42.63. Nortel Networks (NT) rose $1.38 to $39.63 and Lucent Technologies (LU) finished off 25 cents to $18.81.

Telecom equipment company Tellabs (Nasdaq: TLAB) closed up $5.38 to $58.88 after it met analyst earnings estimates for its fourth quarter on Tuesday and posted strong revenue growth despite fears of a slowdown. The company also gave a positive outlook for 2001.