TECH STOCKS: The Surge Rolls OnTECH STOCKS: The Surge Rolls On

Surging technology stocks continued to fuel Wall Street's rally Thursday, with networking and chip stocks pushing the Nasdaq to its seventh consecutive day of gains, its longest winning streak in more than three years. Reports of sharp increases in factory orders in July (up 1.6%) and worker productivity in the second quarter added to the markets' surge, overcoming a worrisome increase in new unemployment claims last week to 413,000--the highest since mid-July.

Cisco Systems stock rose 1.7% after Goldman Sachs raised its outlook for the network-equipment vendor, while UBS increased its rating on a number of semiconductor equipment suppliers, including Applied Materials and Novellus Systems. National Semiconductor shares rose 11% on a strong earnings report, while security software vendors Network Associates and Check Point Software both rose nearly 7%.

The Nasdaq-100 tracking stock closed at $34.15, up 30 cents, or 0.8%. The tracking stock's trading volume was relatively sluggish, with just over 62 million shares changing hands.

Our information 100 rose 2.64 points, or 0.9%, to close at 292.76, while the Nasdaq index rose 16.08, or 0.9%, to finish the day at 1,868.98, a seven-day gain of 104 points. The Dow rose 19.44 points, or 0.2%, to close at 9,587.90, a five-day gain of 254 points, while the S&P 500 rose 1.70, or 0.2%, to finish at 1,027.97.