Wall Street: Software more valuable than oil

The tech industry's answer to this week's stock market roller coaster was delivered on Tuesday by the mighty Apple Inc.

Apple saw its stock price rise enough -- gaining more than 5 percent -- that it briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil, as the most valuable company in the U.S., according to an Associated Press analysis of its market cap. (Exxon Mobile wound up the day slightly ahead of Apple.)

Most of the other major tech companies -- Intel, IBM, Dell, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard -- all finished in positive territory yesterday, as markets made up ground lost in the big sell-off on Monday that also hit oil prices and other commodities. Read more...