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Sector Update: Tech Stocks Gain Friday Afternoon

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-- Tech stocks were higher Friday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) rising 3.1% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) climbing 4.7%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index gained 5.1%.

In corporate news, Apple (AAPL) and Intel (INTC) have reached a preliminary agreement under which Intel will make some of the chips powering Apple devices, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Apple shares rose 1.8%, and Intel jumped past 15%.

Akamai Technologies (AKAM) shares surged 20% after the company reported Q1 results and Chief Executive Tom Leighton said a US-based frontier model provider has committed $1.8 billion over seven years for the company's cloud infrastructure services.

Hedge fund TCI cut its stake in Microsoft (MSFT) to 1% of its portfolio at the end of March from 10% at the end of last year, the Financial Times reported. Microsoft shares shed 1.1%.

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