Internet Shares Turn South in Afternoon

After teetering in and out of positive territory for much of the day, Internet stocks ended lower along with all the major indices despite a positive consumer price index report.

internet.com’s Internet Stock Index ended off 7.79, or 1.54 percent, to
499.27, the Nasdaq Composite was off 52.57 to 2,815.72 and the Dow Jones
industrial average fell 100.36 to 10,809.97.

Lotus Development, which is a division of IBM Corp., (IBM),
said it will use Microsoft’s (MSFT)
Windows Media video technology within Notes and Domino. The technology
is directly competitive to that of RealNetworks’ (RNWK)
video technology. Despite this, Real’s stock closed up 1-1/8 to 92-9/16.

MP3.com (MPPP)
rose 1/4 to 32-1/8. CS First Boston reiterated its “buy” rating on the stock.

StarMedia Network (STRM)
was up 3/16 to 44-15/16. The online portal for Latin America announced a deal to purchase Webcast Solutions, which provides real-time on-demand Webcasting.

CareInsite (AOL) plunged 5-7/8 to 44-1/2. Although, today the company entered an alliance with AOL to connect patients and health care providers, such HMOs, pharmacies, labs, insurers and doctors.

As for the Internet leaders, America Online
Inc. (AOL)
lost 1-78/8 to 89-1/8, eBay Inc. (EBAY)
was down 3 to 152, Ariba (ARBA)
dropped 7-3/8 to 126-1/8 and Inktomi Corp. (INKT)
rose 3-17/32 to 129-13/32.

China.com (CHIN
A) continued its descent, as its shares fell another 10-5/8 to 52-5/8.
Yesterday, the Chinese government announced plans to ban any foreign
investment in Chinese-based Internet companies. China.com released a
statement on the situation, saying, “We have a long history of cooperation
with the Ministry of Information Industry of China and we are well
positioned to take advantage of China’s growing economy and the ongoing
development of e-commerce in China to promote exports.”

Xoom.com (XMCM)
gained 3/8 to 35-15/16 and ValueVision International Inc. (VVTV)
was off 2-7/8 to 25. The two companies will create a new home-shopping
service which will have a presence on the Internet and television.

Verity Inc. (VRTY)
was up 11/16 to 57-15/16. The Internet software company reported
first-quarter earnings of 32 cents a share, trouncing analysts’ estimates of a 16-cent profit. Revenue also rose 50 percent.

Netzee Inc. filed to go public today. The company is a developer of online banking products. The lead underwriter is Robinson-Humphrey and the proposed ticker symbol is NETZ.

Also, Staples Inc. (SPLS)
announced that it will make its Staples.com site into a tracking
stock. The stock was down 1/4 to 21-1/4.

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