Is it 2003 all over again? Don't look now, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index is up 25.53% year to date. And both Google (GOOG) and IBM reported stronger than expected earnings after the close tonight, although GOOG is currently trading down while IBM is up. As shown in the chart below, the index just took out its early June highs today after trading up sharply all week long.
Looking at individual stocks in the index, Seagate Technology (STX) is up the most in 2009 with a gain of 147.18%, and it's followed closely by Baidu (BIDU) at 146.96%. Sun Micro (JAVA) is up 140%, followed by EXPE (102.91%), MRVL (96.85%), and LINTA (88.46%). The blue-chip tech names have seen huge gains this year as well. Research in Motion (RIMM) is up 78%, Apple (AAPL) is up 73%, Amazon.com (AMZN) is up 67%, and Google is up 43.7%.
While tech got killed along with the overall market in 2008, its gains so far in 2009 have been extraordinary. Optimism on the sector seems to be getting overly bullish as well, however, so buyers should be careful and not get too overconfident.
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