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Wall St. on win streak
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August 24, 2000: 4:40 p.m. ET
Investors seek value in techs amid slow economy, lifting Dow, Nasdaq
By Staff Writer Catherine Tymkiw
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Investors placed bets that technology stocks would continue to do well in a slowing economy, boosting U.S. stocks for the fourth straight session Thursday, amid growing confidence that the Federal Reserve is finished with its credit tightening cycle.
"Investors are less concerned about technology valuations and more concerned with finding places to put money that won't have earnings disappointments," said Bill Meehan, chief market analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.
 The Nasdaq composite index rose Thursday for the ninth time in the last 10 sessions, led by selected tech stocks.
"If the Fed is just neutral, what's really going to move the market higher is more progress on the earnings front. You're going to want to be overweight in those companies that have the greatest underlying earnings growth, and that's technology," said Kevin Caron, associate strategist with Gruntal & Co.
The Nasdaq gained 42.27, or more than 1 percent, to 4,053.28. The index is now just 16 points off from the start of the year, but still 19.7 percent down from its March 10 high.
 Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard led the Dow Jones industrial average higher. The blue chip index gained 38.09 to close at 11,182.74, while the S&P 500 advanced 2.34 to close at 1,508.31.
Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners nudged out advancers 1,431 to 1,393, as more than 820 million shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, winners beat losers 2,199 to 1,772, as more than 1.5 billion shares were traded.
In currencies, the dollar was flat against the euro and the yen. Treasurys were mixed.
Tech stocks shine
With most investors taking comfort in the idea that the Fed is finished hiking interest rates, attention has shifted to individual stocks that could provide steady revenue growth, led by technology issues.
"As a sector, technology will provide earnings growth irrespective of the economy slowing to a point that would impact other companies that are sensitive to the economy one way or the other," said Cantor Fitzgerald's Meehan.
Oracle (ORCL: Research, Estimates) advanced 1-13/16 to 84-11/16 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW: Research, Estimates) climbed 1-1/16 to 127-3/4.
Jim Waggoner, chief market strategist at Sands Brothers & Company and guest co-host on CNNfn's Market Call, says the semiconductor sector is the catalyst for the recent Nasdaq resurgence. (278K WAV) (278K AIFF)
But semiconductors mostly fell, despite positive comment from A.G. Edwards. Analyst Christopher Chaney revised his growth estimates for semiconductors to 40 percent from 32 percent for the remainder of the year, citing record unit demand.
 PMC Sierra (PMCS: Research, Estimates) gained 3-15/16 to 2387-1/16 and Applied Materials (AMAT: Research, Estimates) rose 1/8 to 85-9/16. But Altera (ALTR: Research, Estimates) fell 1 to 63-7/16, and Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) lost 3/8 to 74-1/4.
Meanwhile, the biggest gainer on the Dow, Hewlett-Packard (HWP: Research, Estimates), surged 4 to 119, while IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates) rose 1-9/16 to 124-13/16.
"You've got a decent summer rally under way with good breadth in the marketplace and, mostly, that's attributable to the fact that fear over what the Fed could do to the economy is abating and that helps all sectors," said Gruntal's Caron.
That was illustrated by other stocks gaining on the Dow, which included Boeing (BA: Research, Estimates), rising 2-15/16 to 53-1/2, and General Motors (GM: Research, Estimates), advancing 3-15/16 to 72-7/8.
Investors smile on economy
U.S. orders for long-lasting durable goods tumbled 12.4 percent in July, according to a government report -- a much bigger drop than the 6 percent analysts had forecast.
In other economic news, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose for the third straight week, the government reported Thursday.
Thursday afternoon, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's policy-making body, released its minutes from its June meeting. The FOMC voted 10-0 to leave interest rates unchanged in June, but many members said it might be necessary to raise rates in the future to curb inflation.
"On balance, the minutes seem to express both optimism that the economy was slowing to a sustainable trend and wariness that a cessation of such slowing could once again engender inflation pressures," Miller Tabak & Co. analyst Michael Crescenzi wrote in a note to clients.
Analysts praise VA Linux
VA Linux Systems (LNUX: Research, Estimates) jumped 6-7/8 to 44 after the firm posted a fiscal fourth-quarter operating loss that was a nickel narrower than analysts had expected. Sales soared more than 500 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.
Analysts were pleased. Credit Suisse First Boston reiterated a "buy" rating, ABN Amro reiterated its "outperform" rating, and WR Hambrecht upgraded VA Linux to "strong buy."
 In other corporate results, Bausch & Lomb (BOL: Research, Estimates) slumped 20 to 35-3/4 after it said results for its third and fourth quarters would fall far short of Wall Street forecasts. The contact lens maker said its results could slump 15 percent below Wall Street's expectations this year and 25 percent next year. 
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