It was a day of spikes for Bay Area stocks. San Jose’s SunPower Corp. (SPWR) surged, gaining more than 15.7 percent by the close of trading, while Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA) fell sharply, dropping more than 9.6 percent by the close of the markets.

Also on the upside, San Francisco’s Gap Inc. (GPS) rose by more than 3.8 percent, while Cupertino-based Symantec Corp. (SYMC) showed the second largest drop of the day, falling more than 4.6 percent. 

The markets were up overall. The Dow Jones rose 0.87 percent, the Nasdaq by 1.07 percent and the S&P 500 by 1.20 percent.

Companies in the news included Sunnyvale’s Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), executives of which were called before Congress to testify on their company’s role in the arrest of a Chinese journalist.