Internet Stocks Slump Ahead of Inflation Report

Rising bond yields caused stocks to slump across the board Thursday ahead of key economic reports due out Friday that should help shed light on whether higher interest rates are on the horizon.

Just before midday, internet.com’s Internet Stock index was off 10.23, or 2.03 percent, to 494.83, the Nasdaq was off 30.79 to 2,488.56 and the Dow Jones industrial average had slumped 100.37 to 10,589.92.

Shares of domain registrar Network Solutions Inc. (NSOL) had jumped 7 to 67-1/4. The company Thursday was making a presentation at Paine Webber’s Growth And Technology Conference.

Most of the other big Internet plays were lower. Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN) was off 2-15/16 to 111-1/16, Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) was down 3-1/4 to 143-1/8, CMGI Inc. (CMGI) had slumped 3-1/2 to 101-3/4 and eBay Inc. (EBAY) was off 5-1/4 to 177-3/4.

Globix Corp. (GBIX) was up 2-5/8 to 37-3/8 on news the ISP is partnering with America Online Inc. (AOL) to provide faster Internet access. Globix will become a peering partner in AOL’s TeraPOP Internet traffic exchange.

AOL was off 4-3/4 to 106-1/4 after Merrill Lynch made cautionary statements about subscriber growth in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter which ends June 30.

Internet commerce company Open Market Inc. (OMKT) was up 7/16 to 13-11/16 following two ratings upgrades. Pacific Crest Securities upped its rating to “buy” from “market perform”and BancAmerica Securities upped its recommendation to “buy” from “hold.”

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