Summer Rally Underway

Tech stocks rallied across the board Tuesday following the holiday weekend
respite. Blue chips finished off the day much as they began, as the NYSE
jumped 227.89 to 10,527.13, while strength in Internet issues helped rocket
the Nasdaq higher 254.21 to 3,459.32. The ISDEX joined in the celebration
roaring 9.76%.

The usual basket of bellwether suspects led the Net march, with Internet
service provider America Online off to a flying
start, up 5-1/16 to 53-9/16. Following its 2-for-1 stock split last week,
online auctioneer eBay was performing nicely,
climbing 5 to 66-15/16.

Business-to-business stocks showed some signs of recovery after a brutal
month of May. Shares of B2B vortal community VerticalNet bounced 5-1/16 to 34-1/4, still nearly 80% from its 52-week
high. B2B incubator Internet Capital Group
tacked on 3-13/16 to 29-5/8, and Freemarkets
leapt 8-13/16 to 46-1/16, still 85% off its 52-week perch.

Shares of Big Blue added 3-3/16 to 110-1/8, after the computing giant
announced plans for a new e-marketplace that brings together telecom
providers and wireless plays in a B2B exchange named e2open.com. Set to
open its doors this July, the IBM venture is backed
by $200 million from Crosspoint and Morgan Stanley.

Shares of newlyweds Lycos and Terra
Networks were rebounding from the honeymoon
fallout. CMGI’s David Wetherell has
conspicuously sat on the fence to patiently observe events as they unfold,
creating a drag on investors’ enthusiasm for the mega-merger deal. Lycos
soared 5 to 64 nevertheless, while Terra edged 3-3/8 to 45-7/8.

Freeserve soared 15-1/2 to 72, on continued
takeover speculation that has Britain’s largest ISP being snatched up by
Deutsche Telekom . Freeserve is majority-owned by
electronics brick-and-mortar parent Dixons, which has confirmed
reports that it has been considering offers from interested parties.

Word on the Street has sputtering chic e-tailer Boo.com’s remaining
assets bought up by UK-based Bright Station for $400,000, markedly shy of
the $150 million VCs put up for the start-up’s initial rounds of financing.

A number of scheduled IPOs are in a holding pattern, despite today’s
impressive showing from anxious investors. High-speed Web access concern
chello broadband put its debut plans on ice until next week citing
ongoing strategic discussions. The start-up is expected to float 27 million
ADR shares between $11.88 and $15.53 under the ticker CHLO.