Apotheker news boosts Hewlett-Packard

News that Hewlett-Packard's board is considering sacking its chief executive, Leo Apotheker, added almost $5bn (£3bn) to the value of the company. The computer maker's shares have halved during Mr Apotheker's 11-month tenure, amid poor results and an angry investor reaction to the strategy he laid out in August, when he said HP would sell its PC business and buy the UK software firm Autonomy.

HP's board has been meeting this week and is considering putting the former eBay boss Meg Whitman in charge of HP on an interim basis.