Internet companies had posted solid gains as the midway point in Thursday trading neared following news of several partnerships and positive analyst comments.
Just before noon Eastern, internet.com’s Internet Stock Index had jumped 18.91, or 2.75 percent, to 706.91, the Nasdaq Composite had leaped 55.72 to 3,409.43 and the Dow Jones industrial average was up 40.98 to 11,039.37.
Stocks were helped by a report that single-family homes in the United States rose to record levels in the South, West and Midwest. The Commerce Department reported new home sales jumped 16.3 percent in October to 986,000. That’s 100,000 more than economists were expecting. September’s number was revised to a drop of 8.1 percent on sales of 848,000 units.
Almost all the leaders were up, including Ariba Inc. (ARBA) up 9 to 197, Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) up 8 to 198, Broadvision Inc. (BVSN) climbing 8-5/16 to 101, Checkpoint Software (CHKP) up 6-7/8 to 154-1/2, Healtheon/WebMD (HLTH) up 2-11/16 to 49, Juniper Networks (JNPR) jumping 25-5/8 to 298 and Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN) had climbed 3-1/4 to 63-7/8.
The only loser among the leaders was Doubleclick (DCLK) off 3-1/16 to 167-3/8.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was up 2-3/8 to 87-3/8. A federal judge ordered rival barnesandnoble.com Inc. (BNBN) to not implement a feature similar to Amazon’s 1-Click until a lawsuit Amazon filed is heard. 1-Click stores a user’s buying information so a returning customer can buy items with one-click of a computer mouse. barnesandnoble.com was off 5/8 to 18-3/4.
Net2Phone Inc. (NTOP) had gained 2-11/16 to 58-1/8 and America Online Inc. (AOL) was up 3-3/16 to 79-5/16. The two companies Thursday signed a deal that will give users of AOL’s instant messaging service access to Net2Phone’s Internet telephony service.
Net2Phone also announced it is selling an additional 6.3 million shares at $55 each. Lead underwriters for the secondary are Hambrecht & Quist and Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette.
TMP Worldwide Inc.(TMPW) had soared 33-3/4 to 128-3/4. The owner of the Monster Board job site signed a four-year, $100 million deal with AOL to become the exclusive career site on AOL’s network. Also, Paine Webber initiated coverage of TMP Worldwide with a “buy.”
Lycos Inc. (LCOS) was up 2-3/8 to 60-1/2. The search engine teamed with Ericsson AB (ERICY) to give wireless users access to Lycos content and personalized services.
Freeserve PLC (FREE) had jumped 14-3/8 to 60-1/4. Britain’s largest ISP teamed with BT Cellnet to deliver wireless Internet services.
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