The tech sector is trading higher today, ahead of gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness, however, with the SOX trading only 0.1% higher. Within the chip index, AMD (+4.6%) is a notable standout. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.3% higher today, while the QQQ is up 0.6% and the NASDAQ is trading 0.4% higher on the session. Among tech bellwethers, AAPL (+1.3%) is displaying notable strength, while FB (-0.4%) is under pressure.
There were no earnings of note in the tech sector. In news, TESS (+1.8%) declared a one-time dividend and its CFO announced his departure to pursue new professional opportunities. EFX (+5.4%) announced it will purchase certain credit services business assets and operations of CSC (+4.3%) for $1.0 bln in cash. EFX sees the deal as accretive. In notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, ARMH (-0.1%) was upgraded to Outperform at Exane BNP Paribas, Needham upgraded FNSR (+2.4%) to Buy, ERIC (+1.2%) was upgraded to Outperform at RBC, CSC (+4.2%) was upgraded to Outperform at Cowen and DELL (+7.4%) was upgraded to Buy at Goldman. Among downgrades, ELX (-5.5%) and QLGC (-6.3%) were downgraded to Sell at Goldman, KNXA (0.0%) was downgraded to Mkt Perform at JMP, and RATE (-6.7%) and RIMM (-2.4%) were downgraded to Hold at Canaccord. There are no notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.






