|
Big-name techs triumph
|
 |
July 8, 1998: 6:17 p.m. ET
Traders keep close to bellwethers as Internet tsunami eases somewhat
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - All eyes were on the household names in the technology sector on Wednesday as wary investors pulled back from the capricious and still largely untested Internet ahead of an expected earnings announcement from Yahoo! Corp.
Instead, the market concentrated on familiar companies, pushing most non-Internet sectors broadly higher and the Nasdaq Composite index up 27.28 points to end the day at 1,935.39.
Waiting for Yahoo!
The extremely volatile Internet sector continued its whiplash as stocks generally extended losses from Tuesday during trading hours but then rocketed even higher after a post-session earnings and stock split announcement from Web powerhouse Yahoo!
Yahoo! stock (YHOO) ended 4-13/16 softer at 186-3/16 after trading in a 23-point range throughout the day. After-hours trading in the company was halted ahead of the split announcement.
Search engine competitors shared in the downturn but revived in light of the Yahoo! news. During regular trading, Excite (XCIT) closed down 4-7/8 at 91-3/8, Infoseek eased 13/16 to 34-1/2, and Lycos (LCOS) fell 7-1/2 to 77-1/2.
In the first minutes of after-hours trading, Excite was up 3-5/8 at 95, and Lycos gained 5 to 82-1/2.
The anchor of the Internet retailing industry, Amazon.com (AMZN) stock closed down 15 at 107-1/8 after being downgraded by Montgomery Securities to "hold" from "buy."
After hours, the stock traded up 5-7/8 at 113.
The downgrade put additional pressure on other online retailers, with CDNow (CDNW) tumbling 2-15/16 to 20-1/4 and N2K (NTKI) falling 1-5/16 to 21.
Among the Internet service providers, Earthlink (ELNK) continued its slide, falling 3-27/32 to 67-3/8, but Mindspring (MSPG) gained 2 to 95-1/4 and America Online (AOL) closed unchanged at 108-7/8.
Chips leave Motorola behind
Motorola (MOT) fell 2-13/16 to 52-3/16 after the market digested an overnight release of disappointing earnings, but the rest of the semiconductor sector closed broadly higher.
Intel (INTC) gained 3-3/16 to 78-5/16, Linear Technology (LLTC) added 3-15/16 to 67-3/4, and Maxim (MXIM) gained 2-1/4 to 34-1/16.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) -- expected to announce its earnings after the bell -- pared gains made earlier in the day to close up a scant 1/8 at 18-1/8.
Bells and whistles for hardware
Computer manufacturers kept up with the chipmakers' advance, gaining almost across the board, with the greatest spoils going to some of the most familiar names.
Apple (AAPL) climbed 2-1/16 to 32-9/16 on the strength of company icon and interim CEO Steve Jobs' appearance at MacWorld, while Dell (DELL) leapt 5-3/8 to 96-3/8, Gateway (GTW) added 3-1/4 to 59-3/4 and Hewlett-Packard (HWP) gained 2-9/16 to 60-15/16.
Sun (SUNW) climbed 2-9/16 to 45-1/2.
A good day for software
Although Microsoft (MSFT) -- the biggest name in the software sector -- climbed 1-15/16 higher to 109-7/8, the deepest gains in the programming field came from smaller companies.
The big winners included BMC Software (BMCS), which ended up 2-3/16 at 53-1/16, and Citrix (CTXS), which gained 5-7/8 to 72-7/8.
Peoplesoft (PSFT) climbed 3-5/8 to 50-7/8 after the company announced that it had entered an alliance with business consultants Arthur Andersen.
Telecoms celebrate connection
MCI (MCIC) and WorldCom (COMS) stock both touched new trading highs after the European Commission said it had given a green light to their planned merger. By the close, MCI stock was up 9/16 at 61-7/16 while WorldCom was up 1/4 at 50-5/8.
Sprint (FON) was also 2-1/8 stronger at 74-5/16.
Omnicom Group (OMC) gained 3-13/16 to reach a record closing high of 55-7/16. The company declined comment when asked about the stock movement. 
-- by staff writer Robert Scott Martin
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
