Tech Up As Momentum Offsets Facebook Reform - Tech Roundup

Shares of tech companies rose as traders continued to chase momentum in economically sensitive areas of the market. The broad stock market has seen torrid gains in the fourth quarter of 2017 and the opening weeks of 2018, and nowhere have those gains been more pronounced than in the tech sector. Shares of Facebook declined after Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said the social network was redesigning users' "news feeds" to make sure they were centered on friends' posts rather than those promoted by businesses. Analysts, including those at Stifel and JPMorgan, warned that the move could hinder advertising sales. Shares of Twitter rose amid hopes that Facebook's move would push more advertisers to its smaller rival. Daniel Ives, head of technology research at GBH Insights, said Facebook's move could benefit Twitter. The Supreme Court on Friday said it would consider whether states can broadly require online retailers to collect sales taxes even if they lack a physical presence in the state, a case that could have a major impact on online commerce.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 12, 2018 16:35 ET (21:35 GMT)