Stocks marched even higher after a healthy open on Friday, and big-cap techs resumed their rally after some quiet pullbacks during the week.
Apple (AAPL), for instance, rebounded 0.5% to 112.74 in volume that was running more than 30% above typical pace as of 12 p.m. ET, a good sign that institutional demand is still fierce. Qualcomm's (QCOM) potential bid to scoop up NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) is also powering interest in the chip and wireless tech space.
The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 gained 0.8%. The Dow Jones industrials slightly outperformed, up 0.9%. In the price-weighted Dow 30, as many as 11 rose 1 point in more.
The S&P, in contrast, is market-cap weighted, so names such as Apple garner more heft in that large-cap benchmark's performance.
Small-caps marched in lock step with the big caps; the Russell 2000 gained nearly 1% and was poised for a Q3 gain of more than 8%.
Friday's rebound is interesting in light of the news that U.S. personal spending actually fell 0.1% in August, below the Econoday forecast for a 0.2% lift month over month. Yet major discount chains, automakers, supermarket and consumer electronics retail groups led the market's upside.
The heavy cloud hanging over the company's long-term future will be the question of whether the most successful tech company from 2004 to 2014 in terms of stock market performance can create yet another blockbuster product or service.
At the same time, it cannot be ignored that Apple, loaded with cash and only mildly levered (its latest fiscal 2015 year shows a long-term debt to shareholders equity ratio of 45%) is becoming an attractive play for income investors. The annualized cash payout of $2.28 a share presently gives stockholders a yield of 2%.
That 2% yield is in line with the S&P 500, but the company's long-term dividend growth rate is superlative at 31%, according to calculations by IBD sister firm William O'Neil + Co.
Elsewhere in the stock market today, Facebook (FB) edged up less than 0.2%, getting closer to staging another breakout attempt past a 128.43 pivot point. The world's No. 1 social network hasn't made much progress from that entry but is up more than 22% year to date.
Biogen's earnings per share had soared $4.12 in 2009 to $17.01 in 2015 — equal to a compounded annual growth rate of 27%. But profit increases are now slowing; the Street sees an 18% lift this year to $20.10 a share and a 4% gain in 2017.
Back to its chart, Biogen has dropped more than 54% since peaking at 480.18 in March of 2015. So the current action resembles that of big stock market winners that produced "bottoming bases" after the 2008-2009 Wall Street meltdown.
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