Crude oil prices surged above $66 a barrel Thursday, driven to a new six-month high by concerns that strained relations between Iran and the West could put oil exports in jeopardy as U.S. gasoline supplies wane and demand swells. 

Dealing a significant blow to Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), the government on Thursday awarded the largest-ever federal telecommunications contract, a 10-year deal worth up to $48 billion, to its rivals AT&T, Qwest Communications and Verizon. The three contract winners will split $525 million, but beyond that they will have to compete with each other for the business of dozens of federal agencies needing to enhance the quality and security of voice, video and data technologies, the General Services Administration announced.

Shares of Qwest (NYSE:Q) rose $0.10 to close at $8.95, near the top of its 52-week trading range of $6.12-$9.22.

Shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) advanced $0.22 to end at $39.17, also close to the top of its 52-week trading range of $24.72-$39.86.

Verizon's (NYSE:VZ) stock price added $0.34 to finish at $37.57, just off the peak of its 52-week trading range of $30.10-$38.95.

Sprint (NYSE:S) climbed $0.49 to close at $19, settling in the lower half of its 52-week trading range of $15.92-$26.89.

United States Steel Corp. (NYSE:X) plans to buy Lone Star Technologies Inc., a maker of welded pipe used in oil fields, in a $2.1 billion cash deal that will make it North America's largest producer of tubular steel. Under the terms of the deal, U.S. Steel will pay $67.50 per Lone Star share, a total of about $2.1 billion and a roughly 39% premium over Lone Star's closing share price of $48.45 on Tuesday on the NYSE. Shares of Lone Star climbed $17.56, or 36%, to close at $66.01 after rising to a 52-week high of $66.50. U.S. Steel shares rose $3.61 to close at $101.22 on the NYSE after also setting a new 52-week high of $101.59.

RF Micro Devices Inc. (NDAQ:RFMD), which makes radio frequency components, warned that weaker demand from a major customer would hurt its first-quarter results. Shares fell $0.76, or 10.8%, to $6.31.

Circuit board maker Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc. (NDAQ:MFLX) said its Q2 sales and profit could decline from the Q1. The stock fell $1.95, or 11.2%, to $15.55.

Red Hat Inc. (NYSE:RHT) posted a profit decline of 25% and failed to meet analyst expectations for revenue Thursday, compounding earlier fears that larger competitors may bully the budding Linux provider. Red Hat earned $01.5 per share in the quarter ending Feb. 28, up from $0.14 last year, matching estimates from analysts polled by Thomson Financial. For the full year, Red Hat earned $59.9 million, or $0.29 per share, compared with the $79.7 million, or $0.41 per share, it earned in the last fiscal year. In part, that was due to higher operating expenses, particularly in sales and marketing. While the company was able to add at least 10,000 new customers and saw its revenue jump 41% to $111.1 million during the Q4, it fell short of analyst predictions of $112.5 million.