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Markets & Stocks
Stock rally fades
February 16, 1999: 1:42 p.m. ET

Wave of bargain hunting recedes but bonds, dollar keep Wall St. in the black
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. stocks remained firm but well off their morning highs by early Tuesday afternoon as enthusiasm over rebounding money markets ebbed, draining investors of the urge to hunt fresh technology bargains.
     Shortly before 1:30 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 15.19 points at 9,290.08. On the New York Stock Exchange, advances outnumbered declines 1,545 to 1,345 as 400 million shares changed hands.
     The Nasdaq Composite, last week's most volatile market index, was up 7.91 at 2,329.80. The S&P 500 index gained 9.12 to 1,239.25. (Click here for a look at today's CNNfn market movers)
     The bond market gave up most of its morning gains as support from a stronger dollar gave way to profit taking, flattening the market. The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond traded 9/32 of a point higher in price, keeping the yield at 5.40 percent.
     The dollar continued to test new two-month highs against the yen after Japanese officials said overnight that Tokyo would be willing to accept a weaker yen as a result of last week's short-term interest-rate cut there. The dollar also rose against the euro.
     The afternoon's comparative lack of volatility on the first day of widened trading collars seemed to support Wall Street arguments that the old trading curbs were outdated.
     Starting Tuesday, the electronic trading collars will activate to restrict arbitrage trading whenever the Dow industrials move more than 180 points from their previous close. The collars had previously been triggered by moves of 50 points.
    
Techs on the rebound

     Technology stocks once again took center stage, rallying as investors picked bargains among the sector's blue-chip members and braced to learn the latest earnings of two technology leaders -- Dell and Hewlett Packard -- after the closing bell.
     Shares of Dell Computer (DELL) gained 5/8 to 90-1/2 as early bargain-hunting faded. The stock lost nearly 12 percent Friday and weighed down on the high-tech sector as a whole after several analysts expressed doubts the company could sustain its stellar revenue growth. Wall Street expects Dell to have earned 31 cents a share in the latest quarter.
     Shares of another technology leader, Dow component Hewlett Packard (HWP) reversed direction sharply after an early rally and fell 3 to 75-7/16. Hewlett Packard also reports its latest earnings after the closing bell and is expected to have made a profit of 83 cents a share.
     Megan Hackett, technology analyst at the S&P Equity Group, said she expects Dell's results to show continuing high revenue growth, attributing Friday's sell-off to impossibly high expectations that rendered the company "a product of its own success."
     She also saw predicted an upside surprise for Hewlett Packard's earnings, citing "a very good job of reigning in expenses" along with a strong product line and possibly favorable currency translations.
     Other technology blue chips also took part in the rebound, with Dow member IBM (IBM) rising 3-5/16 to 176-1/16, Microsoft (MSFT) gaining 13/16 to 158-9/16, Intel (INTC) climbing 1-1/16 to 127-9/16, and Cisco Systems (CSCO) trading 3/8 higher at 99-11/16. Dell competitor Gateway (GTW) rose 7/16 to 70-11/16 and rival Compaq (CPQ) was up 5/16 to 43-5/16.
     In the day's other newsmakers, shares of retailer Wal-Mart (WMT) jumped 3-1/4 to 87-5/8 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
     Interest-rate-sensitive financial stocks also headed higher, helped by the bond and dollar rallies. Among the Dow members, American Express (AXP) rose 2-11/16 to 102-5/8, Citigroup (C) gained 1-1/2 to 53-3/8 and J.P. Morgan (JPM) was up 7/8 to 109-1/4. BankAmerica (BAC) climbed 15/16 to 63-13/16 and Chase Manhattan (CMB) gained 3 to 77-1/16.
    
American leads transports

     Transportation, and especially airline stocks, also recovered after a turbulent week, pushing the Dow transports index up 8.56 points to 3,105.45.
     However, the morning bounce proved short-lived for shares of AMR (AMR), the parent of American Airlines, which slid 1/8 to 55 as most of the company's pilots returned to work and flights resumed after a long sickout last week.
     Although the disruption cost American an estimated $90 million, airline analyst Ray Neidl of Baring Furman Selz doubted it will make much difference to the company's long-term outlook.
     Shares of Delta Air Lines (DAL) were up 3/8 to 52-15/16. Delta announced plans to buy the remainder of the parent of Atlantic Southeast Airlines for about $700 million. UAL (UAL), the parent of United Airlines, slipped 7/16 to 59-9/16. Back to top

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.