US tech stocks see gains

Wall Street saw gains by midday on its first trading day of the new year, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.9 percent to 12,575.06. The Nasdaq Composite was 1.5 percent higher to 2,454.23, while the S&P 500 added 0.7 percent to 1,428.15. At one point during morning trade, the Dow hit a new intra-day record of 12,580.35. Helping gains was a new manufacturing survey which was higher than had been anticipated.

Brick and mortar retailers were up, with Wal-Mart 3 percent higher to $47.59 and Home Depot gaining 3.3 percent to $41.50 on the news that its CEO was parting ways with the company. On the other hand, internet retailer Amazon dropped 1.3 percent to $38.95 after Citigroup issued a downgrade from “hold” to “sell”.

Tech-related stocks were up. Internet search engines saw gains. Yahoo added 2.6 percent to $26.19, while Google gained 2.9 percent to $474.02. In the telecommunications sector, meanwhile, Verizon was 2.9 percent higher to $38.33. In other computer-related gains, Cisco added 2.3 percent to $27.95 and semiconductor manufacturer Intel was 2.9 percent higher to $20.84. Computer maker Dell was 3.8 percent higher to $26.03.

Declines in crude oil prices sent ExxonMobil shares down by 2.4 percent to $74.77.

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