Tech Stocks: Markets Ignore Concerns, Post GainsTech Stocks: Markets Ignore Concerns, Post Gains

Investors pushed all the stock indexes up slightly Thursday, despite numerous reasons for pessimism. In addition to concerns about relative stock valuations and a weakened labor market, factory orders for April fell 2.3%, with computer orders among the categories pushing that number downward. The retail and biotech sectors posted the best across-the-board showings, keeping Wall Street from taking a step backward.

One of the day's better tech performers was Intel, which rose 46 cents, to $21.84. Friday's trading activity figures to be influenced by the chipmaker's midquarter conference call Thursday, in which it narrowed its revenue range for the quarter to between $6.6 billion and $6.8 billion, as well as the May employment report due Friday morning.

Our information 100 was Thursday's big winner, rising 3.33 points, or 1.3%, to 252.20, followed by the Nasdaq index, which rose 11.36 points, or 0.69%, to 1,646.01. The Nasdaq-100 tracking stock closed up 22 cents, or 0.7%, to $30.64, on volume of 86.7 million shares. The S&P 500 rose 3.9 points, or 0.4%, to close at 990.14, while the Dow brought up the rear, rising 2.32 points, or 0.03%, to 9,041.30.