The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.35%) is rising in early trading Tuesday, rallying 120 points as of 11:30 a.m. EST. Even with that gain, a few tech stocks were outperforming the index -- Dow Jones component Cisco (CSCO 0.40%) jumped more than 1%, while OpenTable (OPEN) and Glu Mobile (GLUU) both rallied nearly 6%.
Fed policymaker supports further stimulus
An early Tuesday speech by Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren may have been -- at least partially -- behind the Dow rally. Rosengren, who is known to be one of the more dovish Fed members, reiterated his support for monetary stimulus, warning that reductions in the central bank's economic stimulus could have disastrous economic consequences. Rosengren called for removing stimulative measures "only gradually."
The longer the Fed continues to support the U.S. economy, the better for the stock market.
Cisco gets CES boost
Investors may have been bidding up Cisco shares ahead of the company's presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Cisco CEO John Chambers is set to give a speech this afternoon on the growing trend that's come to be known as the "Internet of things."
Cisco could benefit in a world where most, or all, electronic appliances are connected to the Internet. More Internet-connected devices means more demand for network solutions, a key component of Cisco's business.
OpenTable posts big gain
OpenTable was one of the biggest gainers during Tuesday's morning session, but there wasn't much news to explain the move. OpenTable's CFO is set to address participants at the Global Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference tomorrow. It's possible that hopeful investors could be bidding shares of the company up in anticipation of the event.
Or it could simply be volatility. Longtime OpenTable investors should be used to such immense swings; over the past 52 weeks, shares have traded as high as $87.48 and as low as $48.81.
Glu Mobile benefits from analyst upgrade
Like OpenTable, Glu Mobile shares were getting a solid boost early on Tuesday, but in this case there was news to account for the move: Craig-Hallum upgraded the stock to buy on Tuesday, with a price target of $5.
Craig-Hallum cited a slate of upcoming Glu games set to make their debut later this year. Like OpenTable, Glu Mobile has been a volatile stock, as the profitability of mobile video games remains uncertain. Glu Mobile was once a much more valuable company, but has beaten down in recent quarters as larger competitor Zynga has struggled with consistently producing profitable video games for mobile platforms.
