EBay nears 8-year high as online shopping accelerates

EBay Inc. rose more than 5 percent, approaching the highest intraday price in almost eight years, on optimism that it will benefit from a surge in online shopping ahead of the year-end holidays.

The stock rose as much as 5.1 percent to $51.50, the highest on an intraday basis since Jan. 19, 2005. It advanced to $51.22 as of 2:08 p.m. in New York.

Sales were up 57.4 percent for San Jose, California-based EBay as of early today, a fivefold increase over last year, according to ChannelAdvisor, which tracks online commerce. Consumers seeking to save time and money by shopping over the Internet are flocking to EBay on so-called Cyber Monday, when many retailers mark down items sold via the Web.