Investors Shift Focus to Blue Chips

Internet and technology shares were slumping in midday trading Monday as investors were taking a new look at recently-battered blue chip stocks.

At 11:45 a.m. Eastern, internet.com’s Internet Stock Index had fallen 29.09, or 3 percent, to 946.54, the Nasdaq Composite had lost 109.45 to 4,481.05 and the Dow Jones industrial average had jumped 104.86 to 9,966.98.

Stocks making news included Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), down 12-11/16 to 152-1/2. Reports emerged over the weekend that the portal has held talks with Australia’s News Corp. (NWS) about a possible alliance.

eBay Inc. (EBAY) had fallen 4-7/16 to 146-3/8. A London newspaper reported Monday eBay is in talks to buy Sotheby’s Holdings (BID) for $1.6 billion. EBay officials denied the published report.

America Online Inc. (AOL) was up 7/8 to 60-1/2. The online giant Monday announced a number of strategic agreements with wireless players to deliver its content to a variety of Internet-ready devices including cellular phones.

LookSmart (LOOK) was up 1-5/16 to 43. U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray initiated coverage of the search engine Monday with a “strong buy” rating, setting a $94, 12-month price target.

Online brokers were getting a small boost from positive comments issued Monday by Chase Hambrecht & Quist. E*Trade Group Inc. (EGRP) was up 7/8 to 23-1/8. The brokerage said E*Trade’s rapid account growth is propelling it to one of its best quarters ever. Chase set a $40 price target.

Charles Schwab (SCH) was up 3/8 to 38-1/4. Chase increased its first-quarter estimate by 4 cents to 23 cents a share. Chase said the company continues to benefit from increased trading activity.

Subscribe to Internet StockTracker, a weekly e-mail newsletter from
internet.com Corp. Every Friday internet.com will deliver to your e-mail
in-box the latest performance data on individual Internet companies and
their competitors. Internet StockTracker will deliver to you all the
statistics you need to assess the week’s activity. Subscribe today at e-newsletters