Axcelis Technologies Inc. (NasdaqGS: ACLS) gained 12.91 percent in price Thursday to $3.41. Volume of 1,723,617 shares nearly doubled its full-day average.  The Mass-based ACLS announced that its IntegraTM ES plasma dry strip system has been selected as the process tool of record by one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers.

Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqGS: MSFT) traded Thursday in 32,635,809 shares, or about half its full-day average. MSFT share prices gained 0.22 per cent, to $27.90. Microsofts’s board of directors Wednesday declared a quarterly dividend of $0.16 per share.

Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NasdaqCM: THLD) lost 10.61 percent Thursday to $1.18. Volume of 236,558 shares more than tripled its full day average. The California-based THLD is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of drugs targeting Tumor Hypoxia, the low oxygen condition found in microenvironments of most solid tumors.