HEXUS.sharewatch: Semiconductors lead tech stock rally

There's nothing like some solid quarterly earnings announcements to make everyone a bit more optimistic and two of the world's biggest technology companies duly obliged last week.

Both Intel and IBM managed to beat expectations with their Q2 figures and forecasts and were rewarded with big jumps in their share prices. Their status as technology sector bellwethers led to all but one of our list to get a lift, with fellow semiconductor companies AMD and NVIDIA doing especially well.

The one company not to benefit from this exuberance was PC maker Dell, which chose to brief analysts in advance of its own Q2 earnings announcement, which isn't due until next month.

"We continue to believe that customers are deferring IT purchases, and that we will see demand return to more typical levels at some point," said Dell CFO Brian Gladden. "In the meantime, we continue focusing our energy and resources on the operating initiatives that will improve the company, and position us for future success."

Analysts were clearly looking for greater reassurance than that and punished Dell's share price accordingly.