Merck, P&G Boost Stocks

Better than expected results from Dow components Merck and Procter & Gamble helped the market recover some of its recent losses on Tuesday.

The Nasdaq gained 17 to 1342, the S&P 500 climbed 11 to 858, and the Dow rose 99 to 8089. Volume rose to 1.46 billion shares on the NYSE, but declined to 1.42 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 21-11 on the NYSE, and 20-12 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 74% on the NYSE, and 76% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 48-76 on the NYSE, and 48-77 on the Nasdaq.

After the close, Novellus and Cymer raised estimates. Photon , RealNetworks , Looksmart , Veritas and Interwoven beat estimates. Borland missed estimates. Intersil guided lower. Advanced Fibre came in light on revenues.

During the day, Siebel gained 5.6% on an expanded partnership with IBM , up 2.2%. Big Blue, meanwhile, is pushing messaging and collaboration technologies.

EarthLink gained 5.4% on news of layoffs and restructuring.

Yahoo climbed 3% after settling a lawsuit with Sone , which edged up 0.2%.

Microsoft lost 0.7% despite a legal victory.

Cisco , up 3.7%, expanded its mid-market offerings.

AT&T Wireless fell 4.5% on disappointing results.

Apple , up 3.2%, reshuffled its Power Mac offerings.

P-Com , up 4.3%, is buying a switching company.

Hotels.com slipped on a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Dice fell 67% on plans for bankrupcty and going private.

Proxim , up 4.1%, unveiled WiFi offerings.

Vitesse gained 7% on its earnings report, but Kronos , Powerwave and Overstock.com all fell on their reports.

Market Commentary: For our free daily market commentary and technical analysis, please visit the InternetStockReport.com home page at:

http://www.InternetStockReport.com.