Technology led market gains on Wednesday as the S&P tech sector hit its highest level since November 2000 and the Nasdaq 100, another indicator of industry growth, reached a 14-year high.
The S&P tech sector is the only division of the index that traded at a 52-week high on Wednesday morning. Companies leading gains at 52-week highs included Qualcomm, Hewlett-Packard, EMC Corporation, and Amphenol.
Programmable devices company Xilinx was the greatest laggard.
One analyst warned of a tech bubble.
"[It's a] tale of two worlds between old tech and new tech," said Chad Morganlander, portfolio manager at Stifel Nicolaus. "At this point of the market cycle I would avoid momentum stocks and move up the quality spectrum."
He added that new firms in the sector "can walk the walk, but valuations are too rich for my blood."
| S&P Sector | Price | % Chg. | YTD % Chg. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Information Technology | 657.99 | 0.43 | 12.38 |
| Energy | 730.79 | 0.31 | 12.14 |
| Utilities | 216.28 | -0.18 | 11.94 |
| Health Care | 718.52 | 0.67 | 11.87 |
| Materials | 316.11 | 0.41 | 8.39 |
| Financials | 309.88 | 0.3 | 5.15 |
| Telecommunications Svcs. | 163.02 | 0.04 | 4.82 |
| Consumer Staples | 462.13 | 0.13 | 4.41 |
| Industrials | 467.95 | -0.08 | 3.42 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 534.87 | -0.04 | 0.9 |
Source: Source: CNBC Analytics * Data as of midday, July 23 2014
—By CNBC.com