Investing.com - Technology was the strongest sector in the market midday, while cannabis enjoyed an earnings-inspired rally.
The S&P Info Tech Sector index was up about 0.88% at 11:45 AM ET (15:45 GMT). The Nasdaq Composite gained about 0.8%, the strongest of the three major indices.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) was on of the biggest gainers in the S&P Info Tech index, rising about 2%.
The maker of servers and networking equipment reported earnings and sales that topped Wall Street forecasts.
Gainers along with HP Enterprise were videogame maker Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO), which rose about 3%, and software company Red Hat (NYSE:RHT), up about 2.8%.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose about 2% after Morgan Stanley sharply raised its price target on the stock.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) kept its overweight rating on the stock and boosted the price target to $2,500 from $1,850, according to several published reports. That would make Amazon worth about $1.2 trillion in market cap.
Meanwhile, cannabis stocks were off to the races again thanks to Canadian company Tilray’s first-ever earnings report.
Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) stock surged about 19%. Cronos Group (NASDAQ:CRON) rose about 12%, while Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC) gained about 6%.
Tilray, which went public in July, said sales jumped 95% from the year-ago period to $9.74 million, topping Wall Street estimates. It also said its price-per-gram rose to $6.38 from $6.20, thanks to more potent marijuana and extracts.