Market Roundup (MSFT, RE, BT, PUK)

The US tech has the sector moved up, with Chief Executive Steve Ballmer of Microsoft Corp

disclosing new mobile-phone software platform on Windows Phone 7. Investors are also awaiting the quarterly earnings reports from several companies. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) gained about 1.45%, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose about 0.24%. The US dollar rose versus the euro and other currencies. Euro has surged about 9% against the dollar since the end of August. The dollar index (DXY) moved up about 0.20%. The euro lost about 0.8360% against the US dollar. Joseph Taranto has reconsidered his decision to retire as the chairman and chief executive of Everest Re Group Ltd

. Taranto will stay as the chairman and CEO of the company till December 31, 2012. The company's President and Chief Operating Officer (

) Ralph Jones had resigned on October 7. RE shares are down about 3.3%. Shares of BT Group

and Prudential Plc

fell about 2% after a downgrade in the rating. Analysts at Bernstein downgraded BT from “market perform” to “underperform.” Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded PUK from “neutral” to “underweight.” Read more