Dell Computer shares climbed 11 percent on positive earnings and an upbeat forecast.

The Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based group also issued an upbeat forecast of demand for this year.

Analysts said that the company's stock rose at least as much on executives' upbeat forecasts as on the results today.

Other wireless communications equipment makers were buoyed by Nokia's upbeat forecast.

And, for the first time since summer, her relentlessly upbeat forecasts for stock prices seem in tune with investor sentiment.

How is it that people maintain this rosy bias even when information challenging our upbeat forecasts is so readily available?

The upbeat forecasts from the two companies spilled over into the entire chip sector.

Intel reported that its sales rose nearly 10 percent in the fourth quarter and gave an upbeat forecast for 2005.

Participants heard upbeat forecasts that Russia could corner 10pc of the global market by 2025.

An upbeat forecast from the semiconductor industry gave Wall Street another reason to look beyond the day's negative economic reports.