BlackBerry Shares Above $9 For First Time Since January 2016

BlackBerry Ltd BBRY shares are trading higher by $1.36 (18 percent) at $9.06 in Wednesday's session.

The catalyst for the rally is the resolution of its legal dispute with Qualcomm QCOM. Before the open, an arbitration panel awarded Blackberry $814 million, which is binding and can't be appealed.

After a much higher open, BlackBerry's stock rallied another dime to $9.19 before reversing course. That highs coincides with its January 4, 2016 high of $9.22. It has backed off that level, but has gone no lower than $8.97, which is over $1.00 from the top of Tuesday's range ($7.70).

If the stock can close in the $9.00 handle, it will be the first time since January 4, 2016 (the same day the $9.22 high was made), when it ended that session at $9.14.