Techs Stocks Edge Higher as HP falls, Yahoo Rises

The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 6.63 points, or 0.3 percent to 2,495.12. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 4.62 points, or 1.16 percent to 403.12. The broader S&P 500 Index was nearly flat, down 0.04 percent to 1403.04

HP shares fell $2.61, or 5.57 percent to close at $5.57 after announcing a $13.9 billion cash deal to buy information technology services firm EDS, which will allow the Silicon Valley firm to better compete with IBM in services to businesses.

Meanwhile Yahoo shares were jolted higher after a CNBC report that billionaire Carl Icahn had acquired about 3.6 percent of Yahoo late last week and was considering mounting a proxy fight to remove members of the firm's board. Yahoo has been under pressure from investors after failing to reach to be bought by software giant Microsoft earlier this month. Yahoo rose $1.30, or 5.15 percent to close at $26.56.

Among other technology bellwethers, Amazon.com was flat, AMD gained 0.4 percent Apple shares rose 1 percent, Cisco systems was up 0.2 percent Dell was up 3.3 percent, Ebay rose 0.9 percent, Google fell 0.3 percent, and Intel was down 0.5 percent.