The computer maker's stock rose on a report that it bid for Quest Software (QSFT - News) to expand its enterprise business. Dell (DELL - News) is one of several companies that made offers for Quest after it agreed in March to be bought by private equity firm Insight Venture Partners for about $2 bil, Bloomberg said. Dell has announced deals to buy 5 companies so far this year, including network security firm SonicWall, as it tries to transform into a full-service computer company to compete with the likes of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ - News). Dell shares rose 0.1%.
Hawkish comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and weakness in China's factory activity rattled …