Tech rally and oil's fall drive Wall Street's gains

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, April 3, 2008. (REUTERS/Keith Bedford)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Monday as the introduction of a faster BlackBerry spurred optimism about business spending on technology, while cooling oil prices eased inflation concerns.

Research in Motion Ltd <RIM.TO> <RIMM.O> jumped 6.9 percent to $141.97 and hit a record, giving the tech sector an early lift. Nasdaq extended gains late in the session after news Hewlett-Packard Co <HPQ.N> is close to a deal to buy Electronic Data Systems Corp <EDS.N> for as much as $13 billion.

Financial shares also gained, as the long-suffering bond insurer MBIA Inc <MBI.N>, which reported stronger-than-expected results, said the volume of new business appears to be rising.

The Dow also got a big boost after Citigroup raised its forecast for the price of aluminum, lifting shares of Alcoa Inc <AA.N> 6.6 percent. Caterpillar Inc <CAT.N>, a top maker of earth-moving equipment, also rose.

Oil prices fell 1.4 percent after traders took profits on the recent string of record closes. The decline trimmed worries about rising inflation two days before the government reports on consumer prices for April.

"Money continues to go to individual names where the fundamentals continue to be strong. Clearly that was outlined by RIMM and the action in Apple," said Michael James, senior trader at regional investment bank Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.

"Money is going to companies and sectors where there still is economic growth, and there are a number of those stories within technology."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 130.43 points, or 1.02 percent, to end at 12,876.31. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 15.30 points, or 1.10 percent, to 1,403.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> advanced 42.97 points, or 1.76 percent, to 2,488.49.

PHONE HOME

Shares of Apple Inc <AAPL.O> shot up 2.6 percent to $188.16 and gave the Nasdaq its biggest lift after the company said it signed deals to bring the iPhone to four Asian countries later this year.

Research In Motion's new product, the Blackberry Bold, is aimed at its core base of business users. An index of semiconductor stocks <.SOXX> rose 1.2 percent.

EDS shares surged 27.9 percent to $24.13, while Hewlett Packard dropped 4.9 percent to $46.74. Shares of Computer Sciences Corp<CSC.N>, a competitor of EDS, rose 9 percent to

$47.44.

MBIA shares gained 4.5 percent to $9.85. The S&P financial index <.GSPF> advanced 1.7 percent.

Among other tech gainers, International Business Machines Corp <IBM.N> rose 1 percent to $125.24.

ALCOA SHINES

Alcoa, a Dow component, jumped $2.57 to end at $41.61. Alcoa also was driven higher by Morgan Stanley, which raised its price target on the stock.

Caterpillar shares rose 2.5 percent to $83.82.

Another positive factor came from Citigroup, which raised its price target on Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N>, the world's largest retailer. Citigroup said international growth should help offset weakness in the United States.

Wal-Mart gained 1.5 percent to $58.02.

The price of crude fell $1.73 to $124.23 per barrel.

Trading was light on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.05 billion shares changing hands, below last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 1.78 billion shares traded, also below last year's daily average of 2.17 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 11 to 4 and on the Nasdaq by about 5 to 2.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)