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Stocks spring into April
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April 1, 1999: 5:18 p.m. ET
Heightened merger activity pushes Wall Street higher; rising bond yields weigh
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street started April and ended a shortened week of trading with moderate gains Thursday, as investors found encouragement in news of several big mergers.
The rally, which took place mostly on the technology-weighted Nasdaq, was limited, however, by a surprisingly strong economic report that sent bond yields rising and dampened the stock market's buying enthusiasm.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 46.35 points to 9,832.51. The Dow finished the week with a gain of a mere 0.1 percent, bumping its gain for the year so far up to 7.09 percent.
Breadth on the New York Stock Exchange was negative with losers ahead of gainers 1,509 to 1,457 as 707 million shares changed hands. Volume tapered off toward the end of the trading session, as many investors headed home early.
U.S. stock markets will be closed Friday ahead of Easter. Many investors already were gone from the market, after the start of Passover Wednesday night.
Richard McCabe, chief market analyst at Merrill Lynch, said the lack of strong positive breadth in the market is worrisome and could be a precursor to a correction that could take stock prices down as much as 15 to 20 percent later in the spring. (614K WAV) or (614K AIFF)
The Nasdaq Composite, home of many Web and high-tech leaders, climbed 31.97 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,493.37. The S&P 500 index inched up 7.35 to 1,293.72.
Bonds fell sharply. The National Association of Purchasing Management's index for March rose to 54.3, indicating dramatic strength in the manufacturing sector. As a result, the bellwether 30-year Treasury bond tumbled 19/32 of a point in price to yield 5.67 percent.
The dollar slipped against the euro but climbed against the Japanese yen after Tokyo's Vice Finance Minister Eisuke Sakakibara once again spoke against excessive strength in his country's currency.
More Yahoo!, less boo-hoo?
The technology sector was bittersweet, with a corporate earnings warning from computer maker Silicon Graphics (SGI) warring with a high-profile Internet merger for investors' attention.
On the sweet side, news that preeminent Internet portal Yahoo! (YHOO) has reached a deal to buy Broadcast.com (BCST) for $5.7 billion in stock, gave a powerful boost to the Internet sector.
Shares of Yahoo! rallied 11-3/8 to 179-3/4 and Broadcast.com jumped 11-13/16 to 130, a gain of almost 10 percent.
Fellow Web broadcaster Real Networks (RNWK) surged 35-11/16, or more than 29 percent, to 157-7/8.
Silicon Graphics disappointed shareholders late Wednesday by announcing that it expects to lose as much as 25 cents per share in its fiscal third quarter. Analysts previously expected the company to report a loss of only 7 cents per share.
The stock fell 3-9/16, nearly 22 percent, to 13, while other computer makers, recently bruised by growing concern over their growth prospects, were also mostly lower. Dell (DELL) inched up 5/16 to 41-3/16 and Compaq (CPQ) eased 1/4 to 31-7/16. On the Dow, IBM (IBM) fell 1/4 to 177 but Hewlett Packard (HWP) crept up 1/16 to 67-7/8.
Other technology benchmarks joined the Internet surge. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) rose 3-1/16 to 92-11/16, Intel (INTC) gained 2 to 120-7/8, and Cisco Systems (CSCO) edged up 3/8 to 109-15/16.
Oil unimpressed
News of another giant marriage, this time in the oil industry, failed to inspire much buying in that sector on a day when world crude prices suffered a setback, falling prey to profit taking after a strong recent rally.
Shares of BP Amoco (BPA) tumbled 5-3/16 to 95-13/16 following news the British-based powerhouse has agreed to buy Atlantic Richfield (ARC), also known as Arco, in a $26.8 billion deal that will create the world's second-largest oil company. Arco's stock edged down 11/16 to 72-7/16.
The Dow's oil components failed to find inspiration in the deal, with Chevron (CHV) sinking 1-15/16 to 86-13/16 and Exxon (XON) easing 7/16 to 70-1/8.
Among other news stirring the market, shares of King World Productions (KWP) rose a modest 9/16 to 31-1/8 on news that broadcast network CBS (CBS) is buying the company for $2.5 billion. Shares of CBS fell 11/16 to 40-1/8.
Shares of pending merger partners SBC Communications (SBC) and Ameritech (AIT) got a more robust response after Lehman Brothers analyst Blake Bath upgraded both stocks to "buy." Bath said the merger would create a global powerhouse with double-digit earnings growth. SBC climbed 2-9/16 to 49-3/4, while Ameritech jumped 2-5/8 to 60-1/4.
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers.)
(Click here for a look at today's CNNfn technology stocks report) 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang and Robert Scott Martin
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