Internet stocks were getting a boost at midday Thursday due in large part to better-than-expected earnings from Yahoo! Inc. which was helping the sector to leave blue chips in the dust.
Just before noon, internet.com’s Internet Stock Index had soared 23.84, or 4.23 percent, to 587.21, the Nasdaq Composite was up 25.17 to 2,882.38 and the Dow Jones industrial average had climbed 3.48 to 10,591.82.
Leading the way were shares of Yahoo! (YHOO) which had soared 14-11/16 to 190-7/16. The search engine reported a pro-forma third-quarter profit of 14 cents a share late Wednesday, trouncing analyst estimates of 9 cents.
Excite@Home Corp. (ATHM) was up 3 to 49-9/16 and America Online Inc. (AOL) had climbed 3-5/16 to 123-5/16.
AOL Chairman Steve Case, whose company has been rumored for several weeks to be interested in buying the service, said Thursday the company has a “continuing dialogue” with Excite@Home. He said the two have been unable to agree on the scope any deal should take, although he was determined to be patient while the two sides work out their differences.
Online auctioneer uBid (UBID) rocketed 6-1/2 to 39-1/8. The company signed a deal with Go Network to run the auctions on its portal.
Most other leaders were trading higher with Amazon.com Corp. (AMZN) up 5-1/2 to 87-15/16, Broadvision Corp. (BVSN) had climbed 5-1/4 to 166-1/4, Doubleclick (DCLK) had risen 4-1/2 to 134-3/4 and eBay Inc. (EBAY) was up 4-1/4 to 155-15/16.
Other strong movers included eToys Inc. (ETYS) climbing 4-5/8 to 83-5/8, Go2Net (GNET) up 3-31/32 to 66-27/32 and Infospace Inc. (INSP) up 3-1/4 to 46-7/8.
Online brokers were also broadly higher. E*Trade Group Inc. (EGRP) was up 1-5/8 to 27-15/16, Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD) was up 1-1/8 to 21 and National Discount Brokers Group Inc. (NDB) had gained 1-1/8 to 27-1/8.
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