Stories by Marc Ferranti

Despite the frothy headlines stirred by Twitter's initial public offering, tech is not in a bubble of the sort that arose before the 2000 dot-com crash.

Though the shutdown and spending cuts by the U.S. government are taking a toll on IT sales this year, market surveys and financial results from the likes of Apple and Facebook this week show some positive signs for tech.

Strong earnings news from Internet and IT vendors gave a boost to tech stocks Friday, with Microsoft shares touching a six-year high.

After a rollercoaster ride, tech stocks rebounded toward the end of the week following reports of a possible compromise on the political impasse over the U.S. budget.

The tech sector appears to be going about business as usual in the face of the U.S. federal government shutdown, but some industry insiders are nervous about a long-term stoppage or, even worse, the possibility of a debt default if a political compromise on the budget is not reached.

Several recent IPOs and eBay's US$800 million cash offer for payments startup BrainTree this week highlight what looks like a burgeoning market for tech initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions.

Enterprise tech companies including Oracle this week started reporting financial results that cover at least part of the third calendar quarter, and so far, the trends look mildly promising compared to last quarter.

Even before Twitter's initial public offering announcement grabbed the spotlight Thursday, the market for tech IPOs had been heating up thanks to a general rise in stocks.

With the U.S. Labor Day holiday marking the unofficial end of summer on the markets, tech stocks got off to a fairly positive start in the new season as several major deals and the mobile phone market came under especially intense scrutiny.

Heading into the heart of hurricane season 10 months after Sandy slammed the New York metropolitan area, Wall Street has had time to reassess and revamp backup plans.

Though earnings from some tech vendors brightened up a week of tepid market reports, shares of IT companies broadly declined Friday along with the rest of the market.

Tech stocks had an upbeat week as industry watchers appear to be looking at the positive side of earnings from Internet, consumer electronics and networking companies.

Tech earnings this week highlighted the importance of mobile communications to IT, as companies including Apple, Samsung, Facebook, AT&T and Texas Instruments reported mixed results for the quarter ending in June.

Though software sales provided a ray of light in otherwise mixed results this week, gloom settled over the tech sector Friday in the wake of bellwether IT quarterly earnings reports.

A rebound for IBM failed to materialise in the second quarter, as profit and sales declined along with a slump in revenue from hardware and services.