Stocks rose as investors welcomed a lack of negative headlines out of Europe and hopes that China will move to support its economy. Greek polls signaled a commitment to the euro currency and on hopes of more global stimulus. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for May fell to 64.9, after falling to 68.7 last month, while economists had expected the index to ease to 69.4 in May. The Case-Shiller Home Price Index, fell at a 2.6% annual rate in March, after falling at a 3.5% rate in the prior month. Semis kept the tech sector, while Facebook Inc. continued its post-IPO plunge, sliding 9.62%. Advanced Micro Devices gained 4%, while Micron Technology 2.7% and Intel moved up 1.4%. Western Digital and Seagate Technology were in the red, after Barclays Capital downgraded the stocks of the disk-drive makers to equal weight from overweight, citing signs of weak demand in the personal-computer market. In the evening trade Research In Motion dropped 7% after the co. said it would likely post a quarterly loss, and Facebook slipped 0.1%, extending sharp dayside decline. Implied volatility inched lower on light trading volumes.
