NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Technology stocks rallied again Wednesday as semiconductor issues held on to their strong gains and growing investor enthusiasm for 3Com's Palm spinoff helped push the Nasdaq to yet another record close.
3Com (COMS: Research, Estimates), Wednesday's most actively traded Nasdaq stock, soared another 7-1/8 to 105-1/8, a 7.3 percent gain. 3Com Shares reached an intraday high of 119-3/4 shortly after the open.
The company has attracted enormous investor interest since December, when it said it would bring its Palm Inc. subsidiary public. The Palm unit makes the popular "Palm Pilot" handheld computing devices, and is set to be priced after the markets close on Thursday and will begin trading on Nasdaq Friday, members of the underwriting syndicate told CNNfn.com.
 Earlier this week, the company doubled the projected price range for its initial public offering to $30 to $32 per share from $14 to $16 per share. Palm plans to distribute the stock to 3Com shareholders within six months of the offering.
Other big Nasdaq movers Wednesday included: software giant Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates), which rose 1-7/16 to 90-13/16, a 1.6 percent gain; Dell Computer (DELL: Research, Estimates), up 2-7/32, or 5.4 percent, at 43-1/32; Cisco Systems (CSCO: Research, Estimates), which edged down 1/2 to 131-11/16; and Oracle (ORCL: Research, Estimates), which gave back some of its recent gains, falling 2-3/4 to 71-1/2, a 3.7 percent decline.
The Nasdaq composite added 87.39 to 4,784.08, a 1.9 percent gain on the day and its 13th record close this year.
Lucent soars after reorganization plan
Investors gave their nod to Lucent Technologies (LU: Research, Estimates) plans to spin off three of its slower-growing businesses to form an independent, $8 billion company, sending the shares of the widely held company up more 14.5 percent in extremely heavy volume on the New York Stock Exchange.
Lucent shares ended the session 8-5/8 higher at 68-1/8, with more than 76 million shares changing hands throughout the day. The stock reached an intraday high of 75-3/8.
Elsewhere among telecommunications companies Wednesday, SBC Communications (SBC: Research, Estimates) and BellSouth (BLS: Research, Estimates) rose on news that the two regional phone companies are mulling a joint venture that would combine their wireless assets and create the nation's second leading wireless service provider.
SBC shares rose 3-15/16, or 10.4 percent, ending at 41-11/16. BellSouth rose 2-7/16 to 43, a 6 percent gain.
Meanwhile, U S West (USW: Research, Estimates), which is set to be acquired by Qwest Communications (Q: Research, Estimates), gained 6-3/8, or 8.8 percent, to 79, after it announced that it would work with chip giant Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) to provide high-speed home computer networking services.
Intel shares added 2-7/8 to 115-7/8, a 2.5 percent gain on the day.
The Nasdaq telecommunications index rose 32.21 to 1,175.22.
Chips hold steady
Chip stocks, which have been on a tear recently and were the market's stars on Tuesday after positive analysts' comments brought the bulls out in force, held on to their gains.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index, a key industry barometer comprised of chip makers as well as companies that make the equipment used to manufacture chips, edged up 1.72 to 1,172.18 after posting a near 10 percent gain on Tuesday.
Among Wednesday's top chip advancers were: Triquint (TQNT: Research, Estimates), which soared 6-7/16 or 5.4 percent, to 125-3/16; Micron (MU: Research, Estimates), up 5-3/4 at 101-3/4, a 6 percent gain; LSI Logic (LSI: Research, Estimates), which added 5-3/16, or 8.1 percent, to 69-3/16; and Anadigics (ANAD: Research, Estimates), which ended the session up 5 at 95, a 5.6 percent gain on the day.
Chip equipment makers also headed higher. Semitool (SMTL: Research, Estimates) shares rose 5-3/8 to 47-3/8, a 12.8 percent spike. Cymer (CYMI: Research, Estimates) rose 5-1/8, or 9.3 percent, to 60. Novellus (NVLS: Research, Estimates) edged up 3/8 to 59-11/16. And Applied Materials (AMAT: Research, Estimates) moved up 1-11/16 to 184-5/8.
Chip industry decliners Wednesday included: National Semiconductor (NSM: Research, Estimates), which fell 1-7/8 to 73-1/4, a 2.5 percent slide; and Conexant (CNXT: Research, Estimates), which dropped 8-3/4, or 8.9 percent, to 89-1/2.
Wells Fargo deal sparks eBay
Online auctioneer eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates) got a lift Wednesday after it entered an alliance with Wells Fargo & Co. to launch a new online payment service, which enables a bidder to pay by credit card instead of personal check.
eBay shares rose 5-7/8, or 4.1 percent, to 149-1/4. Meanwhile, eBay rival uBid (UBID: Research, Estimates) edged down ¼ to 32-3/16.
Other dot.coms headed mostly higher Wednesday as well, sending the Dow Jones composite Internet index up 22.6, or 5.2 percent, to 455.74.
Priceline.com (PCLN: Research, Estimates), where customers name their own price for a range of goods and services, posted some of the sharpest gains, adding 8-7/16 to 64-3/8, a 15 percent rise on the day. Barnesandnoble.com (BNBN: Research, Estimates) also gained sharply on the day, rising 13/16, or 10.2 percent, to 8-13/16. Online discount brokerage Ameritrade also spiked, adding 2-7/16 to 21-1/8, a 13 percent gain on the day.
Meanwhile, shares of Expedia.com (EXPE: Research, Estimates), Microsoft's online travel affiliate fell after the company said it would record a fiscal third-quarter charge of up to $6 million to cover the cost of fraudulent transactions on its Web site. Expedia shares ended the session down 1 point at 19, a 5 percent decline.
Expedia rival PreviewTravel (PTVL: Research, Estimates) also took a trip south Wednesday, falling 5-1/16 to 41, an 11 percent decline on the day. 
|
