Tech Firms Buoyed by Demand Abroad

Google hired 786 employees in Q1

(NEWSER) - If you went to MIT, the economy shouldn’t look half bad. Tech companies are hiring again, often even fighting over top recruits, the Wall Street Journal reports. Yesterday, Google announced that it had hired 786 employees in the first quarter, and said it expected to “continue hiring aggressively throughout the year.” The announcement came alongside a stellar earnings report that showed a 37% profit jump for the company. More»

Google remains below $300

(NEWSER) - Withering tech stocks tugged the broader market down today, the Wall Street Journal reports. Hewlett-Packard fell 4.6% while IBM closed down 2.9%, Cisco dropped 3.95% and Google 5.9%—after that stock closed below $300 on Friday for the first time since January. The Dow fell 79.89 to 6,547.05. The Nasdaq lost 25.21, closing at 1,268.64, while the S&P 500 shed 6.85 to settle at 676.53. More»

Dow sees modest gains, Nasdaq loses; all indices post weekly gains

(NEWSER) - The markets were mixed today as poor results across the tech sector and from Merrill Lynch put the brakes on a two-day rally, MarketWatch reports. Good news from Citigroup kept the Dow buoyant, and it closed up 49.91, at 11,496.57. The tech-heavy Nasdaq took a 29.52-point dive, settling at 2,282.78, while the S&P 500 gained 0.36 to1,260.68. More»

Email, IMs keep employees available and distracted

(NEWSER) - Google, Microsoft, Intel, and IBM are partnering are on a new initiative to help workers distracted by emails and instant messages improve their productivity, the New York Times reports. The Information Overload Research Group, a nonprofit launching next month, will devise cultural and technological solutions to reduce the digital deluge that’s costing firms $650 billion a year in productivity. More»

(NEWSER) - The Nasdaq added 2.5% of its value, or 62.52 points, to close at 2563.16, its biggest gain of the year. Techs were up across the board, after hard-disk manufacturer Seagate announced better-than-expected profits and outlook, and Apple hinted at a new line of iPods. Nokia and Intel posted big gains, but the surge was felt widely: winners outnumbered losers more than 6 to 1 on Wall Street. More»