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Some cooling on Wall St.
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November 20, 1998: 11:34 a.m. ET
Blue chips hold on to gains, but technology sector turns lukewarm
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street slowed its torrid morning advance by midday Friday as weakness crept among technology stocks, pushing the Nasdaq into the red and pulling the broader market off its early highs.
Shortly before 11:30 a.m. the Dow Jones industrial average was 83.16 points higher at 9,139.21. On the New York Stock Exchange, advances led declines 1,524 to 1,120 as 288 million shares traded. Volume was heavier than usual, largely due to the "double witching" expirations of stock futures and options.
Strong gains in markets from Tokyo to London, as well as a reassuring speech by Greenspan in Frankfurt contributed to the market's early rally. But investors eager to take home some profits before the weekend tamed Wall Street's advance.
The Nasdaq Composite eased 2.33 to 1,917.35 and the S&P 500 index climbed 6.63 to 1,159.24. (Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers.)
The bond market traded mostly higher, with the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rising 15/32 of a point in price for a yield of 5.20 percent.
The dollar traded modestly higher against both the Japanese yen and the German mark.
Internet on fire
In the stock market, already overheated Internet issues continued to generate sparks as droves of investors busied themselves in the sector following news of strong earnings and stock splits among two of the industry's leaders.
Lighting the way, online bookseller Amazon.com (AMZN) soared 12-1/4 to 165-1/2 after the company late Thursday announced a 3-for-1 stock split.
But Web portal Lycos (LCOS) failed to follow in the footsteps of Amazon, losing 1-15/16 to 60-1/16 even after reporting its best quarter ever late Thursday with a 166 percent jump in revenue.
Elsewhere in the market, big-name technology issues also put in a mixed showing, with shares of Intel (INTC) easing 1-9/16 to 111-5/16 after a strong advance Thursday. Cisco Systems (CSCO) fell 1/8 to 73-3/16, Microsoft (MSFT) eased 1/16 to 111-11/16, Dell Computer (DELL) gained 5/16 to 63-3/8 and Dow member IBM (IBM) was up 9/16 to 159-1/8.
Financial stocks found mostly buyers. Among the Dow components, American Express (AXP) rose 4 to 105-3/8, Citigroup (CCI) gained 15/16 to 45-3/8, and J.P. Morgan (JPM) was up 3-7/16 to 109-13/16.
Among the non-Dow financials, Bankers Trust (BT) soared 4 to 76 and Chase Manhattan (CMB) rose 1/2 to 62. 
-- by staff writer Malina Poshtova Zang
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