Global economies may be faltering on their way to recovery, but the technology sector has kept its pace, showing high sales numbers on increased demand. As companies unveil their quarterly financial results this week, tech stocks and related ETFs may start to look more appealing. For the last three months, they’ve been down about 8% on average.

Chip giant and industry bellwether Intel (INTC) reported that sales jumped 35% to $10.8 billion, with earnings of 51 cents per share, which was way above Wall Street’s estimated 43 cents per share, writes Carl Gutierrez for Forbes. Intel projects third-quarter sales to be in between $11.2 billion to $12 billion, ahead of Wall Streets $10.9 billion estimates.

ETFs are trading mostly flat alongside the broader markets while traders wait for earnings season to officially kick off after the closing bell with Alcoa (AA). The technology sector was the lone standout, thanks to an upgrade for the sector.

Several technology companies got the boost, including Yahoo (YHOO) and SanDisk (SNDK), based on favorable risk/reward ratios and other positive factors. Microsoft (MSFT) jumped after an announcement that it teamed up with Fujitsu on cloud computing.

The markets and ETFs wobbled early this week as investors refrained from investing in riskier technology stocks on fears of possibly weaker global economic growth. Maybe the new shiny smartphone may distract investors from all the bleak news?

On Tuesday, all major indexes were weighed down by loses, most notably in the technology sector, reports Peter A. McKay for The Wall Street Journal. Sectors hovered around the break-even point on concerns over the long-term demand prospects. A deep cut in the Dow and lingering concern over Europe’s debt crisis have investors worrying about a possible stall in the U.S. growth.