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Wall St. warms to oil, techs
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March 29, 1999: 10:27 a.m. ET
BP Amoco-ARCO merger helps spark heavy buying, while PC makers climb
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Oil and computers lit a fire under Wall Street Monday, sending stocks into a strong upward trajectory in early trading as a major petroleum merger and diminishing profit worries drove a flood of bargain hunters back into the market.
Shortly before 10 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average surged 83.53 points to 9,905.77. Advances outpaced declines on the New York Stock Exchange by a margin of 1,657 to 750, while early trading volume was a robust 123 million shares.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite flew even higher on a net basis, climbing 28.27 points, nearly 1 percent, to 2,447.44. The S&P 500 index jumped 14.20 to 1,297.
Stocks got an additional charge from a strong dollar. Worries about the extent of armed conflict in Kosovo pushed the euro to new record lows against the greenback, while the yen made only minimal headway.
Bonds retreated to make room for $3 billion in municipal and corporate debt due to price later in the day, while traders remained profoundly nervous amid the fresh spotlight shining on the oil sector. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond fell 16/32 of a point in price, driving the yield up to 5.63 percent.
Power surge for techs
High-tech stocks reasserted their leadership in an extension of Friday's rally, helping push the broader market higher early on.
Investors found shares of software giant Microsoft (MSFT) looking cheap after the company's two-for-one stock split went into effect, pushing shares up 3/4 to 89-13/16.
Other technology bellwethers also jumped out of the starting gate. Cisco (CSCO) leapt 2-3/8 to 107-9/16, while Lucent (LU) soared 3-1/16 to 105-1/16 on news that had signed a $1 billion supply contract with AT&T.
Investors seemed to have mostly banished their worries surrounding the growth outlook for major computer makers, sending shares of most of the big PC manufacturers into positive territory. Dell (DELL) led the way, climbing 1-1/2 to 39-3/8, while Gateway (GTW) gained 1-3/8 to 67 and Compaq (CPQ) was flat at 31-3/16.
On the Dow, IBM (IBM) gained 4-1/8 to 176-1/2, but Hewlett Packard (HWP) lagged, up a more conservative 5/16 to 69.
Investors were merciful with Dow member Kodak (EK), sending shares in the photography and imaging giant up 7/8 to 66-1/8 despite the company's confession of disappointing corporate profits ahead.
Oil and other mixtures
The lifeblood of commerce also was on investors' minds Monday in the wake of a $48 billion merger announcement from Atlantic Richfield (ARC) and seemingly insatiable BP Amoco (BPA).
As a result, global oil stocks surged amid hopes that the round of consolidation might not be over. Atlantic Richfield soared 7-3/16 to 72-9/16 and BP Amoco leapt 4-5/16 to 104-3/4.
Dow component Exxon (XON) gained 3/4 to 72-5/16 and fellow blue-chip Chevron (CHV) added 2-11/16 to 89-1/2, while Total (TOT) climbed 5/8 to 60-11/16 and Royal Dutch Shell (RD) gained 1-1/16 to 53-9/16.
In other merger news, the game of musical mergers in the pharmaceutical sector continued, with British giant Glaxo Wellcome (GLX) reportedly calling off merger talks with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY).
American depositary shares of Glaxo climbed 2-1/8 to 63-15/16, while Bristol Myers gained 1-13/16 to 61-5/16. Long-time Glaxo merger hopeful SmithKline Beecham (SBH) climbed 2-13/16 to 69-7/16. 
-- by staff writer Robert Scott Martin
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