U.S. Market Ends Higher As Domestic Deals Overshadow Iraqi Tension

U.S. market wrapped up Friday on a positive note. Three major indexes all ended slightly higher. Oil continued to rise, closing at almost $107. Precious metals followed. Gold edged up a bit to $1,276. The ongoing tension in Iraq is still on everyone's mind, but it's temporarily upstaged by the deals in the U.S. OpenTable finished Friday 48% higher than Thursday's closing price after online travel agent Priceline offered to buy it at $103 a share. Express zoomed 21% on Friday after Sycamore Partners said it would like to make an offer in the near future. But what has really been lifting the market is Intel. Its shares jumped nearly 7% on Friday, which is the biggest gain in three years. The California based semiconductor manufacturer announced the optimistic prediction that its 2014 annual sales will rise for the first time in three years. It's signaling improved demand for personal computers and the technology sector likes to hear it. As a result, Applied Materials, which makes semiconductor production equipment, rose almost 3% to a seven-year high.