Stocks Open Higher; Techs Rally

Stocks opened higher Friday after a slew of encouraging economic reports this week and as techs got a boost.

Today is the once-a-quarter event known as "quadruple witching," which is the simultaneous expiration of stock index futures, stock index options, stock futures, and stock options.  It happens on the third Friday of the third month of every quarter.

Historically, major averages have closed up two out of three times on quadruple witching days.

>> Why Quadruple Witching Isn't Scary

Today's advance builds on Thursday's gains, when stocks snapped a three-day losing streak as a trio of encouraging economic reports — the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing report, leading indicators and weekly jobless claims — fueled recovery hopes.

Adding to the optimism, the International Monetary Fund said it may raise its 2010 growth forecast for the global economy in the coming weeks.

The market was also buzzing about the arrest of Allen Stanford in connection with his alleged $8 billion Ponzi scheme involving certificates of deposit.  Stanford has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing.

Techs shot out of the gate after the debut of Apple's new iPhone and several analyst upgrades in the smartphone sector, though BlackBerry maker Research In Motion didn't join in the rally.

American depositary shares of Research In Motion slipped as investors focused on the Canadian company's disappointing outlook over their earnings beat and a couple of analyst upgrades.

Three brokerage firms raised their price targets on RIM stock. Raymond James raised its price  target to $90 from $86 with an "outperform" rating. Deutsche Bank also raised its price target — to $67 from $56 — with a "hold" rating. BMO raised its price target to $90 fom $82 with an "outperform" rating.

Shares of Apple rose as the Apple 3GS hit store shelves today. The phone has twice the storage of previous phones — 16 gigabytes — for the same price point, $200. A 32-gigabyte model is priced at $300. It also has a lot of features that iPhone users were craving, including a better camera, the ability to record video and voice dialing. Read David Pogue's review.

>> Smaller Crowds Greet Apple's iPhone

Elsewhere in tech land, Microsoft shares rose after Goldman Sachs added the stock to its "conviction buy" list, saying revenue drivers, cost controls and the company's cash cushion have set the mood for the company to beat earnings expectations.

Banks were among the few weak spots today after leading yesterday's rebound.

Regions Financial slipped even after the bank said it's almost done raising the $2.5 billoin in capital required by the government's stress test. It's achieved the goal through stock offerings and selling some of its stock, including shares of Visa.

Citigroup rose after Rochedale Securities analyst Dick Bove started coverage  of the stock with a "buy" rating, saying the bank was simply too big for the government to allow it to fail.

E*Trade skidded more than 10 percent after a disappointing offering of 435 million shares at $1.10 a share, far less than the stock's closing price on Thursday.

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