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Stocks in nervous convulsions
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February 10, 1999: 1:44 p.m. ET
Valuation jitters offset bargain hunting as Wall St. seeks direction
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Pulled in opposite directions by bearish investors expecting a market correction and those seeking to pick up bargains after the previous day's meltdown, U.S. stocks zigzagged back and forth between gains and losses in afternoon trading Wednesday.
Shortly before 1:30 p.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average was 15.45 points lower at 9,117.58. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers led gainers 1,903 to 968 on trading volume of 438 million shares.
The Nasdaq Composite, which Tuesday suffered its third-biggest daily point loss in history, lost 6.75 to 2,304.04. The S&P 500 index fell 0.27 to 1,215.87. (Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers)
The bond market dropped sharply as investors prepared to absorb $10 billion in 10 year notes to be auctioned by the Treasury department in the afternoon. The benchmark 30-year bond was down 20/32 of a point in price for a yield of 5.34 percent.
The dollar gained ground against the Japanese yen amid speculation Tokyo might ease its interest rates. But the greenback fell against the euro.
Lycos still out of favor
Shares of Web portal Lycos (LCOS), whose announced purchase by USA Networks (USAI) Tuesday sent investors fleeing from the stock, once again headed south. After losing more than a quarter of their value Tuesday, Lycos shares were down 4-3/8 at 89-7/8. Several Wall Street brokerages, including CS First Boston, BT Alex. Brown and Oppenheimer downgraded the stock.
Shares of USA networks, which rallied Tuesday, fell 1-1/2 to 40-1/8.
The realization that potential buyers are willing to pay only a small premium for highly inflated Internet shares, as in the Lycos case, whose shareholders reportedly stand to get only about a 2 percent premium from USA Networks, rattled the Internet sector Tuesday.
Major Internet stocks remained extremely volatile Wednesday, moving in and out of negative territory several times in the morning. Shares of Lycos competitor Yahoo! (YHOO) were up 3/4 to 141-1/2, Infoseek (SEEK) fell 2-7/8 to 54-3/8 and Netscape (NSCP) inched up 7/16 to 63-3/8.
Another stock battered Tuesday, Network Solutions (NSOL) extended its decline into a second day even after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. Shares tumbled 8-3/4 to 139-1/4. Network Solutions shed 15 percent of its value a day earlier when it announced it would sell 4.58 million of its class A shares in a secondary public offering.
But General Instruments (GIC) shares took off, rising 1-5/16 to 32-15/16 after that company too beat market expectations with its fourth-quarter results.
And technology blue chips, which had suffered hefty declines over the past few sessions, also attracted bargain hunters, moving higher with few exceptions. Dow component IBM (IBM) gained 2-3/8 to 165-1/8, Cisco Systems (CSCO) rose 1-15/16 to 97-7/8, Microsoft (MSFT) climbed 1-1/2 to 161-9/16 and Intel (INTC) was up 2-11/16 to 128. Dell Computer (DELL) inched up 1/4 to 98-1/16.
In the day's other news, shares of biotech firm EntreMed (ENMD) plummeted 11-13/16, or more than 48 percent, to 12-11/16 after drug giant Brystol Myers Squibb (BMY) canceled research on a cancer treatment licensed by EntreMed. 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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