Chris Nerney

I know the market hates uncertainty, but this is ridiculous. Since last Tuesday’s close – the final day of trading before the presidential campaign went into overtime – stocks in general, and tech stocks in particular, have dropped faster than the credibility of television networks that flip-flopped on calling a winner in Florida. Through late-morning […]

After two consecutive weeks in which most of our 13 Internet sectors gained, upward movement has stalled amid confusion and uncertainty surrounding this week’s presidential election, with the Nasdaq falling 5.4% on Wednesday. The real question is whether ‘Net stocks will resume their comeback or begin looking for yet another bottom. Trouble is, we may […]

After two consecutive weeks in which most of our 13 Internet sectors gained, upward movement has stalled amid confusion and uncertainty surrounding this week’s presidential election, with the Nasdaq falling 5.4% on Wednesday alone. The real question is whether ‘Net stocks will resume their comeback or begin looking for yet another bottom. Trouble is, we […]

The focus of the nation and world may be on Thursday’s Florida vote recount, but there’s another high-stakes drama being dragged out in the city where our next president will reside. Federal regulators planned to meet Thursday afternoon to vote on the merger of access provider America Online and entertainment industry giant Time Warner. Now […]

Maybe the issue will be moot after Tuesday’s presidential election is over, but until it’s clear that Homestore.com is no longer the target of a Justice Department antitrust investigation, dont count on much upward movement for shares of the leading online real estate services Web site. While the probe has been going on for about […]

From the “I Wasn’t Wrong, Just Premature” Dept.: In mid-August, while writing about Amazon.com and its online furniture Web site partner Living.com, which had just shut down, I made an inaccurate, passing reference to Furniture.com as being out of business. The exact quote was, “Selling furniture over the Internet has been, and will continue to […]

For the second week in a row, most ‘Net sectors post gains, though they aren’t quite as robust as last week’s. Still, Internet investors have to feel a little less disoriented and dispirited as November gets under way. The freefall has ended (for now?) and there have been several strong trading sessions in recent days. […]

There were more hopeful signs this week that Internet stocks may have found a bottom. Thanks to a huge marketwide rally on Tuesday, internet.com’s Internet Stock Index, or ISDEX, gained 2.5% in the five days of trading ended Wednesday, and the Nasdaq rose 3.2%. While that’s certainly welcome news for ‘Net investors, the big picture […]

Last month was a big one for initial public offerings – if you were interested in biotechs, that is. ‘Net investors, in contrast, were treated to a real October surprise: Just one Internet IPO. Fiber-optic Internet network provider Asia Global Crossing debuted on the street Oct. 6, finishing the day at $7.38 per share, just […]

Many people are treating this year’s Internet stock meltdown as a disaster. Understandable if you took my recommendation to buy CMGI in January, but the fact is that market instability always presents splendid opportunities for quick-thinking, visionary companies as well as desperate, failing ones. So forget the gloomy headlines about plunging dot.com shares, cash burn, […]

At the beginning of this year, when Internet valuations were still at absurd heights, there were numerous predictions about the pending convergence of emerging ‘Net superstars and “old economy” companies, particularly entertainment and media firms. The argument went that high-flying Internet companies would aggressively leverage their exorbitant market capitalizations to scoop up more traditional firms, […]

The Fall Internet World Trade Show is wrapping up this week in New York, and it has been a depressing experience. Attendance is down, and the general mood runs from subdued to dispirited to desperate, depending on your funding situation. There’s a hangover feeling, which seems appropriate as this sobering year for ‘Net investors staggers […]