The mysterious ways of Wall Street continued today as bad news from TI helped convince investors that another interest rate decrease would sure be in the offing. TI reported a quarter in which they missed expectations by a couple of pennies and warned about the current quarter. The result is that the Fed is now expected to lower rates by 50 basis points (or a half point to you and me). Apple rode higher in the upswing, climbing more than 6% to close above 20 for the first time since the beginning of November.

Most of the stocks we track also closed in the black, as did all three major indexes. The markets are in a phase where good news send stocks higher on hope that the a soft landing is at hand, while bad news also pushes stocks higher on hopes that the Fed will further cut rates. Historically, these trends have lasted for short periods when the Fedis direction is in question.

Apple closed at highest point in three months at 20 1/2, a gain of 1 1/4 (+6.49%) on heavy volume of 15,657,200 shares trading hands. Apple still has one of the lowest P/E ratios among hardware manufacturers with a P/E of 18.16. By way of contrast, Compaqis P/E is 21.78, Gatewayis P/E is 22.58, and Dellis P/E is 31.10.

The Nasdaq closed lower at 2757.91, lower by 12.47 (-0.45%).

The Dow closed at 10649.81, up 71.57 (+0.68%).

The S&P 500 made it a hat trick for the major indexes to close at 1360.40, higher by 17.50 (+1.30%).

Akamai had yet another announcement today, this time with Predictive Networks with whom Akamai will partner to deliver new personalized content. Akamai has had a strong of announcements that has been propelling its stock higher for the last three weeks. Akamai closed at 32 1/8, a strong gain of 3 5/8 (+12.72%) on heavy volume of 6,726,600 shares trading hands. Apple is a major shareholder of Akamai.

Adobe was one of the few losers in todayis trading. The stock closed lower at 59 7/16, a gain of 1/2 (-0.83%) on light volume of 3,471,700 shares trading hands.

IBM closed higher at 109 1/16, a gain of 1/2 (+0.46%) on volume of 9,806,200 shares trading hands.

Motorola went no where fast today and closed unchanged. The stock opened lower, but managed to closed at its closing price from yesterday at 23 1/2, on volume of 9,353,000 shares trading hands.

Earthlink announced that they would be providing Internet access for a new Internet Computer from Larry Ellison. The stock closed higher at 9, a gain of 3/16 (+2.13%) on very light volume of 800,800 shares trading hands.

Gateway closed at 22.15, a gain of 0.70 (+3.26%) on volume of 2,519,700s shares trading hands.

Dell was an active stock today and closed higher at 26 3/8, a gain of 7/8 (+3.43%) on strong volume of 46,279,100 shares trading hands.

Hewlett Packard was another of the few losers among the stocks we track. HWP closed at 34 5/16, a loss of 3/16 (-0.54%) on volume of 6,142,100 shares trading hands.

Intel was another very active stock. Intel closed at 35 3/8, a gain of 2 (+5.99%) on heavy volume of 83,808,096 shares trading hands.

Microsoft shook off an attack from some illiterate hackers in New Zealand today. The stock closed on the up side at 60 9/16, a gain of 7/16 (+0.73%) on strong volume of 35,075,400 shares trading hands.

For full quotes on all the companies mentioned in this article, we have assembled this set of quotes at Yahoo! for your reference. For other stories regarding Appleis stock activity, visit our updated Apple Stock Watch Special Report.