TECH STOCKS: Nasdaq Closes Above 2,100TECH STOCKS: Nasdaq Closes Above 2,100

Optimistic investors anticipating solid corporate earnings over the next few weeks pushed all of our stock indexes up Thursday, including the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which closed just above 2,100, a 2-1/2-year high.

Investors showed little nervousness about the December employment report scheduled for release Friday morning. Although economists are estimating that 100,000 jobs were created during the month, the weekly jobless claims report released Thursday showed a slight, unexpected increase.

Networking, telecom, computer-hardware, and chip stocks generally were up across the board. Sun Microsystems was among the day's big winners, rising 9%, to $5.51, after Banc of America Securities upgraded the computer maker's shares. Hewlett-Packard shares rose more than 5%, to $24.69, following a positive report from Goldman Sachs. Nokia was up 14%, to $20.47, while Lucent Technologies rose 12%, to $3.88. The Nasdaq-100 tracking stock closed at $37.90, up 22 cents, or 0.6%, on moderate trading of just under 70 million shares.

Our information 100 index rose 6.35 points, or 1.9%, Thursday to 339.04, while the Nasdaq rose 22.57 points, or 1.1%, to close at 2,100.25. The Dow rose 63.41 points, or 0.6%, to 10,592.44, and the S&P 500 rose 5.59 points, or 0.5%, to finish the day at 1,131.92.