Applied Materials Inc. gained in extended U.S. trading after the world's biggest maker of semiconductor-production equipment forecast an unexpected increase in orders this quarter.
Shares of Applied Materials added 82 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $19.02 at 5:55 p.m. New York time.
Chief Executive Officer Mike Splinter said fiscal second- quarter orders will rise, helped by deals with makers of both dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, and flash memory. Analysts including Bill Ong at American Technology Research predicted Splinter would forecast a fall in orders of as much as 10 percent.
Level 3 Communications Inc. climbed 5 cents to $6.13. Shares of the long-distance phone and data-network operator were picked to join MSCI Barra's global stock indexes on Feb. 28.
The indexes have more than $3 trillion in funds benchmarked against them. The change may lift Level 3's share price as managers whose funds track the measures adjust their holdings.
March futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 0.10 to 1449.30, while Nasdaq-100 Index futures were unchanged at 1796. The Nasdaq-100 After-Hours Indicator, which tracks stocks in the Nasdaq-100 that are traded between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., added 2.20 to 1786.02.
In regular trading, U.S. stocks snapped a three-day decline and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its biggest rally this year as takeover speculation boosted mining shares and General Motors Corp. jumped after an analyst upgrade.
The Dow industrials rose 102.30, or 0.8 percent, to 12,654.85, the best performance since Dec. 27. The S&P 500 added 10.89, or 0.8 percent, to 1444.26, with all 10 of its industry groups posting gains. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 9.50, or 0.4 percent, to 2459.88.
source:www.bloomberg.com
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