US stocks were trading higher on Thursday, in a whipsaw session after several brokerage upgrades on microchip makers sent the semiconductor sector to a one-year high. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index jumped 2.7 percent, climbing to its highest since May 2006.
After Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Advanced Micro Devices Inc to "buy," and Lehman Brothers lifted Nvidia Corp to "overweight." "The SOXX has taken out its May '07 high, so that's been a big plus for the Nasdaq in the last couple of hours," said Elliot Spar, market strategist with Ryan Beck & Co in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 54.06 points, or 0.40 percent, at 13,543.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 8.36 points, or 0.55 percent, at 1,521.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 14.82 points, or 0.57 percent, at 2,614.78. Nvidia shares shot up 6.5 percent to $42.45 and ranked among the leading stocks boosting the Nasdaq. Advanced Micro shares jumped 5.7 percent to $14.41 on the NYSE.
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