Shares of Apple rose more than 3 percent on Monday ahead of eager anticipation for tomorrow's Macworld expo in San Francisco, which will likely bring with it new product announcements that could push the company's outlook even higher than last year's strong effort.

Shares of Apple closed up $6.09, or 3.53 percent to $178.78.

The technology sector overall ended with strength after International Machines Corp. posted better-than-expected preliminary results.

The Morgan Stanley High Technology rose more than 2 percent. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was up more than 3 percent.

Among the products Apple introduced last year were the iPhone and Apple TV.

Among the rumored new products are a digital movie rental service, an ultra-slim notebook computer and updated versions of the iPod media player and possibly iPhone upgrades.

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