IBM (IBM) Lifts Dow Up, NASDAQ Not so Lucky

The Dow rebounded on Wednesday with a jump in IBM's (NYSE:IBM) stock on its 2015 outlook, but the Nasdaq fell as a weaker-than-expected earnings target from Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) weighed on the chip sector.

Rising oil prices dragged on the broader market on the two-year anniversary of stocks' bull run from the S&P 500's 12-1/2-year closing low of 676.53, which was sparked by the financial crisis.

The Dow bounced back from a session low and reclaimed a slim gain as buyers snapped up shares of International Business Machines Corp, driving it up 2.7 percent to $166.59. Earlier, IBM climbed to an intraday high of $167.72 after a host of analysts raised their target price on the stock. A day earlier, the tech giant reaffirmed its 2015 earnings target.

But the Nasdaq couldn't overcome the drag from the chip makers, with an index of semiconductor shares (Nasdaq:^SOX - News) down 2.3 percent and trading below its 50-day moving average in another sign of weakness for the sector.

Texas Instruments shares fell 2.7 percent to $34.87, a day after the company gave a current-quarter earnings estimate below Wall Street's estimates.

Tech shares also felt the weight of Finisar Corp (NASDAQ:FNSR), which plunged 36.1 percent to $25.62 after the network equipment maker projected a dismal fourth quarter, blaming an inventory pile-up by telecommunications equipment makers in China.

IBM was trading at $166.74, gaining $4.46, or 2.75 percent, as of 12:59 PM EST.





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