Dell Beats Street

For the first time since late-summer of 1998, retail sales slipped 0.2%.
Whether bargain hunters got off the fence, or investors just couldn’t limbo
any further, the broader markets leapt on the news. Prevailing thought has
the latest economic data easing the Fed toward a neutral stance with regard
to interest rates.

Fresh off Cisco’s better-than-anticipated
earnings report, investors have to contend with today’s quarterlies from
Dell . Expect the made-to-order PC manufacturer
to set the tone for tomorrow’s trading. Analysts were looking for $0.16 a
share, and the company delivered three cents better than consensus
estimates after the bell.

Markets went into rally mode, and tech stocks joined in the celebration,
sending the ISDEX climbing 2.28%. Bellwethers snapped back from
profit-taking earlier in the week, as the NYSE roared 178.19 to 10545.97.
Internet issues got the green light as the Nasdaq sped higher 114.85 to
3499.58.

After taking a bruising sell-off yesterday, Go2Net hit an inflection point as shares of the search portal
rebounded today 9-5/8 to 45-5/8. The company unveiled GoSubmit.com, a submission service that
allows e-merchants to automatically submit their Web site to over 1,500
search engines and continuosly manage placement on the various search portals.

Shares of Modem Media Poppe Tyson added 1-1/8 to
14-1/2, after First Union Securities boosted its rating on the e-consultant
to a “buy” and initiated a 12-month target price of $30.

Value America inched higher by an 1/8 to 2-3/23,
after the e-tailer announced a major cash infusion of about $90 million,
followed by a better-than-expected quarterly earnings loss of $0.60 per
share, a dime ahead of consensus estimates.

Mail.com tacked on 1-13/32 to 7-3/8, after the
e-mail services company announced a deal with Ford to
insulate the automaker’s e-mail systems from virus infection, through the
use of firewall technology.

Online brokers sat on the sidelines after discount brokerage giant
Charles Schwab released its latest retail numbers
showing a month-to-month slowdown in trading volume. Shares of Schwab eased
5/8 to 39-11/16. E*Trade sank 5/8 to 19-5/16,
while shares of Ameritrade remained nearly
unchanged on the day, crawling higher by 1/16 to 13-15/16.

The usual collection of Internet all-stars led the dot-com patch higher.
Portal giant Yahoo! soared 6-7/16 to 125-5/16.
Online auctioneer eBay ballooned 6-3/4 to
117-3/4, while e-tailing bazaar Amazon.com
climbed 1-9/16 to 54-7/8.