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Wall St. wobbles into '99
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January 4, 1999: 5:22 p.m. ET
Dow spikes then settles, as high-tech muscle powers Nasdaq to new record
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street returned to erratic form Monday, with blue-chip stocks spiking higher, then settling back to end up only slightly, while high-technology issues kept to a hearty pace of gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.84 points to close at 9,184.27. On the New York Stock Exchange, advances led declines 1,727 to 1,440 as a hefty 883 million shares traded.
Extending into record terrain again after closing 1998 with a gain of 39.6 percent, the Nasdaq Composite gained 15.36 to 2,208.05. However, the S&P 500 index dropped 1.13 to 1,228.10.
The Dow exploded up early to within 25 points of its all-time high, only to succumb to a welter of profit-taking late in the day.
Transportation stocks fell, bellwether high-technology issues and Internet-related shares soared, while banking and telecommunications issues were mixed.
Courtney Smith, chief investment officer at Orbitex Management, said despite a lackluster start, the first week of the year is usually one of the most auspicious for market bulls. (59K WAV) or (59K AIFF)
Wall Street fell off a wave of tidy gains in continental Europe, on the first day of trading of the new euro currency. Bourses in Germany and France, two of the 11 nations in the euro zone, each climbed more than 5 percent.
The dollar slumped near three-month lows against the Japanese yen, while the greenback traded in a narrow range against the new euro.
That dollar softness sparked a sell-off in the bond market by tarnishing the appeal of U.S. securities. The 30-year Treasury bond slipped 29/32 in price for a yield of 5.15 percent.
Tech issues charge up again
The darling of investors was again the technology sector, with the sector's leaders holding true to form in the wake of their stellar rally of 1998.
Among the industry heavyweights, Intel (INTC), climbed 2-1/4 to 120-13/16 after unveiling two new Celeron brand chips for use in lower-cost home and business computers.
Shrugging off the resumption of an antitrust trial against the software giant, investors ate up shares of Microsoft (MSFT), which rose 2-5/16 to 141.
Elsewhere, pulling back from solid morning gains was Dow component IBM (IBM), off 1-3/8 to 183. On the Nasdaq, Dell Computer (DELL) tacked on 1 to 74-3/16, Sun Microsystems (SUNW) rose 4-7/16 to 90-1/16, and Cisco Systems (CSCO) added 2-1/2 to 95-5/16.
Among the day's biggest swingers was dELia*s (DLIA) rocketing up 3-1/4, or 26 percent, to 15-3/4 on news that the teen-age clothing retailer is taking steps to bring its Internet retailing unit public.
Bell Atlantic (BEL) fell 2-1/16 to 51-15/16 after the biggest of the regional phone service companies known as the Baby Bells confirmed over the weekend it is involved in merger talks with AirTouch Communications (ATI). Air Touch lost 4-3/16.
But Dow member AT&T (T), which would be one standout rival of any such Bell Atlantic-Air Touch entity, gained 2-1/8 to 77-7/8 after Merrill Lynch upped its near- and long-term ratings on the long-distance phone giant.
And fellow Dow stock DuPont (DD) clambered up 2-5/16 to 55-3/8 after the chemicals powerhouse nixed plans to take part in a buyout of the Tioxide business of Britain's ICI Plc.
On the downside, Spyglass (SPYG) plummeted 7 to 15, a 32 percent drop, after the company said it would lose 14 to 16 cents per share in the first quarter after losing 28 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers.)
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn tech stock report.)
-- by staff writers Malina Poshtova Zang and Jamey Keaten
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