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Nasdaq, Dow ride high tech
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December 7, 1998: 5:38 p.m. ET
Wide-ranging tech gallop powers stocks; transports rally; drugs mixed
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Wall Street mustered a late-day rally Monday on the back of a resplendent high-technology sector, lifting the Nasdaq Composite index to a new record and dragging blue-chips along for the ride.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 54.33 points to 9,070.47. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outpaced declines 1,710 to 1,330, with 659 million shares trading hands.
The Nasdaq Composite, buoyed by strength in high-technology issues, surged 37.48, more than 1.8 percent, to 2,040.64 -- a new record. The S&P 500 index rose 10.96 to 1,187.70.
The Nasdaq is now up nearly 26 percent for the year.
Transportation issues held onto gains even though crude oil prices made a late-day climb after falling below $11 a barrel in U.S. trading. Banking and drug stocks were mixed, while several Internet stocks gained.
The Dow Transports climbed 63.28 points to 3,115.83, or more than 2 percent.
Looking ahead, Gregg Hymowitz, money manager at EnTrust Capital, said Wall Street's driver next year may not be corporate profits, but lower interest rates (398K WAV) or (398K AIFF).
It was a sleepy day for bonds, with the 30-year Treasury issue edging up 6/32 in price for a yield of 5.03 percent.
The dollar was higher against the German mark and Japanese yen.
High technology spruces up
High-technology issues rallied anew as another spate of bargain-hunting kicked in to spur the sector. Internet stocks, chip makers, phone companies and software makers all took part in the action at least somewhat.
Among the gainers were industry heavyweights Intel (INTC), finishing up 2-5/8 to 118-15/16, IBM (IBM), rising 2-15/16 to 167-3/16,and Dell Computer (DELL), up 1-5/8 to 67-5/8.
And with rifts cropping up in a legal assault against the company, Microsoft (MSFT) rose 6-3/16 to 133-9/16. South Carolina's attorney general said Monday the state would abandon its role in the antitrust suit against the software giant.
The drug sector got little motivation from another dose or two of deal-making Monday. Eli Lilly (LLY) rose 3/4 to 86-7/8 after the drug giant unveiled a licensing deal with Sepracor (SEPR) that will allow Lilly to develop and market a next-generation version of the popular antidepressant Prozac. Sepracor closed up 1/2 to 88-1/2.
Elsewhere in the sector, Pfizer (PFE) rose 1-15/16 to 114-3/8, Warner-Lambert (WLA) dipped 2-9/16 to 75-7/8, and Merck (MRK) climbed 1/16 to 157-11/16.
Elsewhere in the drug sector, Mylan Laboratories (MYL) shed 2-7/16 to 31-15/16, following weekend reports that the Federal Trade Commission is mulling antitrust action against the company.
Among the day's top movers was Adtran (ADTN), sinking 1-15/16 to 21-1/2, after the maker of high-speed digital transmission gear said Friday its fourth-quarter earnings will fall below analysts' targets due to lower spending from phone companies.
Piper Jaffray cut its rating on the stock to a "neutral" from "buy."
(Click here for a look at the day's CNNfn market movers)
(Click here for a look at the day's CNNfn tech stock report)
-- by staff writer Jamey Keaten
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