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CNNfn market movers
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December 9, 1998: 4:46 p.m. ET
Chevron, Royal Dutch perk up, St. John Knits gains, Broadcast.com soars
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - That churning rumor mill was hard at work Wednesday, and atop the heap was talk of another possible deal in the oil industry.
Dow stock Chevron (CHV) rocketed up 3-9/16 to 86 on speculation the oil giant may be in merger talks with Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD). Chevron and Royal Dutch both refused to comment on that market speculation.
Shell's stock rose 1-11/16 to 46-13/16.
Chevron Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Derr is expected to meet with Wall Street analysts next Tuesday to discuss 1999 spending plans but will not talk about any merger or acquisition plans, said a company spokesman Wednesday.
Dialing up gains for a second day, Global Telesystems (GTSG) rose 3-5/16 to 50-3/16 in the wake of a $5-per-share climb Tuesday after the company's announcement that it plans to buy Britain's Espirit Telecom (ESPRY).
Bank Boston Robertson Stephens also upped its rating to "buy" from "attractive" on Global.
Unify (UNFY) rose 1-7/16, or 21 percent, to 8-1/4, on upbeat comments about the maker of e-commerce systems from Scott Turkel, money manager at TCM Partners.
Turkel, who said he has a "small" position in the stock, said three Unify competitors were recently bought at "sexy valuations" - leading in part to his belief that Unify is undervalued. He also said he likes the prospects for the return of centralized computing.
Brent Williams, an analyst at Needham, said there have been no fundamental changes at the company to cause the stock to move - other than the comments from Turkel.
VeriSign (VRSN) added 6-3/4 to 53-3/4 to Tuesday's gain of 3-1/8 after Brown Brothers Harriman upgraded the stock to a "buy" from "neutral," saying the Internet security software maker will benefit from the e-holiday season.
Computer Learning Centers (CLCX) dropped 7/8 to 6 after Everen Securities and Legg Mason cut the company's rating a day after the provider of high-tech training courses reported third-quarter profit of 3 cents a share - far short of analyst targets.
On the initial public offering front, Exchange Applications (EXAP) rose to 15-5/8, after the automation software maker priced 3 million shares at $11 apiece late Tuesday. The lead underwriter is BT Alex Brown.
St. John Knits (SJK) rocketed 4-13/16 to 26-3/4, after Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Gray and his family offered late Tuesday to buy all the shares of the maker of women's clothing they don't own for $28 in cash each, or about $490 million total.
Catalog retailer dELiA*s (DLIA) gained 1-11/16 to 12-15/16, or 15 percent, after saying it is considering an initial public offering for its Internet business. The teen-clothing vendor also reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of 5 cents a share, in line with analyst expectations for 5 cents.
On the downside, Tefron (TFR) fell 4-9/16 to 7-1/16, after the intimate apparel vendor said its fourth-quarter earnings for 1998 and first-half of 1999 will fall short of analysts' expectations.
CS First Boston lowered its rating on the stock to a "hold" from "buy" on Wednesday.
Outside of the clothing business, and onto the buyout front, Headlands Mortgage (HDLD) up 4-5/8 to 21-5/8, or 27 percent, after the home-finance company GreenPoint Financial (GPT) said late Tuesday it would buy the independent mortgage banker in a deal worth about $473 million in stock.
GreenPoint shed 1 to 36-1/4.
Dow member Proctor & Gamble (PG) slipped 2-9/16 to 84-3/16, after Bear Stearns lowered the consumer-products giant to a "neutral" from "attractive."
The day opened quietly for many already-entrenched Internet players, but one exception was Infoseek (SEEK), which continues to rise - up 2-3/4 to 47-5/8 - in anticipation of the launch of its go.net likely next year.
And soaring was Broadcast.com (BCST), rising 17-1/4 to 72 after the online streaming company inked a partnership with the Nasdaq Stock Market to provide services for quarterly earnings conference calls.
Hambrecht & Quist raised its rating to long-term "buy" from "attractive."
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