Following its downward trend of recent days, word from Fed chairman Greenspan lit a fire under tech stocks to boost them well into positive territory.
internet.com’s Internet Stock Index closed up 64.05, or
7.10 percent, bouncing back to 965.96, the Nasdaq Composite
recharged to 168.02 to 4550.14 (close to its largest one-day point gain ever) and the Dow Jones industrial average fell
79.11 to 10225.73.
Greenspan indicated that the Federal Reserve is not wavering in its plans
to raise interest rates in order to hold off inflation. The remarks came as no surprise to investors, who largely took the opportunity to buy at overall low levels.
Good news on top of good news was the order of the day for AOL
(AOL), whose stock rebounded 7 1/4 to 56 7/8. Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget called the stock undervalued, and a newly
released CyberDialogue study said AOL/Time Warner means a major
shopper influx for the ISP of the masses.
AOL could see a potential customer base increase of 26.8 million, based
on new users expected to join the party from Time Warner’s (TWX) cable subscription base. Its stock also received a nod from Merrill Lynch
analysts, and rose 7 15/16 to 81 1/2.
eBay, Inc. (EBAY) also benefited from Blodget’s words, who rated the auction site a near-term “buy.” The stock shot up 20 7/16 to close at 154 15/16.
Broadvision, Inc. (BVSN) saw its stock rocket 20 3/4 to 207 3/4. The company settled its patent infringement suit with Art Technology Group (ARTG) over technology that lets businesses customize Web sites for online sales. Art Technology Group agreed to pay Broadvision $15 million in an out of court settlement.
Alcatel (ALA) upgraded its commitment to the North American market with the $7.1 billion purchase of Canadian mobile networking provider
Newbridge Networks (NN), but investors did not respond with enthusiasm. Both shares fell, Alcatel by 4 to 43 3/4 and
Newbridge by 1 9/16 to 32 13/16.
SBC Communications (SBC) saw its stock drop to a new low for the second time this week, following news Tuesday that it would purchase Sterling Commerce for $3.8 billion. Its stock sank 1 1/4 to 35 1/4.
PSINet (PSIX) gained favor in the markets with news that it will establish a $1 billion venture fund for Internet startups. The stock
skipped up 9 1/4 to 48.
Elsewhere in the sector, Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) was up 6 7/8 to 70 7/16, Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) gained 14 11/16 to 138 5/8, Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) closed up 12 3/8 at 166 3/16, Exodus Communications Inc. (EXDS) rose 10 15/16 to 132 1/2 and Doubleclick, Inc. (DCLK) shot up 1 23/32 to close at 85 27/32.
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