Telecom Stocks: Qualcomm, Nokia, Sprint lead telecom gainers

Qualcomm, Nokia, Sprint move higher By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Qualcomm Inc. on Friday topped the charts for the second straight day in the telecommunications sector as most stocks rose along with the broader U.S. market. A day earlier, Qualcomm ended a costly patent dispute with Nokia Corp. and raised its forecast for the rest of fiscal 2008. The stock rose almost 5% Friday after a 17% advance on Thursday. Like Qualcolmm, Nokia also rose sharply, up 3%. Ericsson were also up almost 3% each. In the phone group, stocks fared less well. Sprint Nextel Corp. gained 1% in value and AT&T Inc. edged a few cents higher, but Verizon Communications Inc. dipped 0.9% and Qwest Communications International Inc. lost 2.2%. Looking at key sector benchmarks, the Dow Jones Wilshire Fixed Line Telecommunications... [read full story]