TECH STOCKS: A Big Finish 2TECH STOCKS: A Big Finish 2

A rosy outlook from Microsoft provided further encouragement Friday to Wall Street investors, who were looking for bargains following three days of stock-market declines. Microsoft missed earnings projections, but higher-than-expected revenue for its fourth quarter and an improved outlook for its new fiscal year were all Wall Street needed. "Microsoft is setting the tone. People were looking for that big giant to say something good, and they did," Todd Clark, head of listed equity trading at Wells Fargo Securities, told The Associated Press.

The Dow Jones saw the biggest boost, with stocks rising 137.33 points, or 1.5%, to 9,188.15, while the S&P 500 rose 11.59 points, or 1.2%, to 993.32. The Nasdaq rose 10.48 points, or 0.6%, to 1,708.50, and the Nasdaq-100 index rose 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $31.28. More than 80 million shares changed hands. The information 100 rose 2.69 points, to 252.58, up 1.1%

But Friday's gains weren't enough to overcome the week's damage to tech stocks. The information 100 was down 4.1% for the week, the Nasdaq was down 1.5%, and the Nasdaq-100 was down 1.7 cents for the week. The blue chips were winners for the week, with the Dow closing up 0.8% and the S&P 500 up 0.5%.