TECH STOCKS: Off To A Fast StartTECH STOCKS: Off To A Fast Start

You know it's a buying day when not one but two of the worst-performing information 100 stocks didn't even fall in value. Sun Microsystems and Documentum closed where they opened Monday, while Comverse, our biggest "loser," drifted just 0.6% lower. Identix, our biggest winner, rose a whopping 28.7%. Another big winner was Siebel Systems, which rose $1.40, or 10%, to $15.39 after issuing fourth-quarter revenue and earnings-per-share guidance that was above consensus estimates.

The Nasdaq-100 tracking stock, which isn't part of our information index, rose 2%, or 73 cents, to $37.09, well above its 52-week high of $36.79. Volume for the tracking stock was 69 million shares.

The Nasdaq Composite index rose 2%, or 40.68 points, to close at 2,047.36. The Dow rose 1.3%, or 134.22 points, to 10,544.07, and the S&P 500 rose 1.2%, or 13.74 points, to 1,122.22.

Now the trick is to see how long this particular rally lasts. We're headed into the reporting period for fourth-quarter financials.