Internet, hardware stocks lift Nasdaq to another record
Technology stocks went on a roller-coaster ride again Monday as the Nasdaq composite closed up 61 points to a new high of 4,130.73 after being up more than 120 points and down more than 80 points at different points throughout the day.
The Dow Jones industrial average pulled back 140 points to 11,356.89 on renewed concerns the Federal Reserve Board will be looking to raise interest rates in early February.
However, US manufacturing activity wasn't as rapid as expected in December. The index eased for a third straight month in December while prices paid for the materials used rose, according to the National Association of Purchasing Management data. The index slipped to 55.5 in December from 56.2 in November. The "prices paid" component rose to 65.7 from 65.3. "The bottom line is: the real world economy and market keeps getting cheaper and cheaper and the virtual world economy keeps getting more expensive," said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter.
Compaq Computer finally made a move Monday, surging 3 1/2 to 30 9/16. Dell Computer trimmed 1/8 to 50 7/8 and Apple Computer rose 9 1/8 to 111 15/16. Gateway shaved off 2 11/16 to 69 3/8.
Internet stocks kept their strong gains intact as Yahoo! soared up 42 5/16 to 475 while Amazon.com and eBay shot up 13 1/4 and 16 1/16 a share, respectively. Lycos moved up 5 43/64 to 85 15/64 and America Online tacked on 7 1/8 to close at 83.
Fogdog picked up 5 3/8 to 14 7/8 Monday after underwriter JP Morgan barked out the usual bullish coverage initiation. Shares were up 5 1/4 to 14 3/4.
Internet traffic management company Radware said it expects its first profitable quarter, with revenue up 170 percent from a year ago. The Israeli company also announced a secondary offering of shares. Its shares closed up 12 3/16 to 55 5/16.
Other stocks announcing good news before their secondary offerings include Allegiance Telecom, a provider of telecommunications services to small and medium-sized business, gained 1 1/4 to 93 1/2. The company preannounced fourth quarter sales with a batch of other news.
Applied Micro Circuits, which makes high-bandwidth chips for optical networks, added 5 to 132 1/4 after it said it would beat estimates for the third quarter ended 31 December. It also filed for a secondary offering in December.
Intel moved up 4 9/16 to 86 7/8. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) jumped 2 1/8 to 31 1/16 and International Business Machines (IBM) closed up 7 11/16 to 115 9/16.
Microsoft lost 3/16 to 116 9/16. Oracle shot up 6 1/16 to 118 1/18 and Sun Microsystems shaved off 15/16 to 76 1/2.
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