Techs give markets all-around boost
Rally lasts as Nasdaq finishes up 3.2 percent
By Rex Crum, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 5:26 PM ET June 17, 2002
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Whether it was due to investors looking for bargains or short sellers covering their holding, technology shares held onto gains Monday afternoon and helped send the Nasdaq Composite to its highest close in nearly two weeks.
The Nasdaq ($COMPQ: news, chart, profile) gained 3.2 percent, or 48.55 points, to close at 1,553.29, its best closing since finishing at 1,554.88 on June 6. Additionally, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU: news, chart, profile) rose 213.21 points, or 2.3 percent, to close at 9,687.42.
There were mixed feelings between market watchers as to why technology was in vogue after last week, when sellers couldn't dump their shares fast enough and the Nasdaq closed below 1,500 twice.
Bill DeRosa, fund manager with Badgley, Phelps and Bell in Seattle, said it appeared as it the market was having a simple bounceback day due to overall share prices being so low.
"There's definitely some bargain hunting going on," said Bill DeRosa, fund manager with Badgley, Phelps and Bell in Seattle. "The lack of real negative news today suggests there's not a lot of short shelling going on."
However, Mike Holland, chairman of Holland & Co. in New York, said the size of Monday's market run-up suggest there had to be some anxiousness among investors who have shorted stocks.
"It's a pretty violent reaction to what has been a bear market," Holland said. "Some issues have gone up without a great deal of (share) volume which leads me to believe that some people who have sold short are getting nervous."
Loudcloud gives boost to software
Loudcloud (LDCL: news, chart, profile), not normally known for affecting the software market, pushed the sector up after making two announcements early in the day.
Loudcloud announced it would sell its managed hosting business to EDS (EDS: news, chart, profile) for approximately $63.5 million and focus on the enterprise software market. To mark the change in strategy, Loudcloud also revealed it would change its name to Opsware. Loudcloud shares gained 22 percent, or 36 cents, to close at $1.99.
Software makers were also up ahead of Oracle's (ORCL: news, chart, profile) fourth-quarter earnings announcement, scheduled for Tuesday after the market close. Shares of the world's second-largest software maker closed up 7.3 percent, or 63 cents a share, at $9.20. One of Oracle's main business-software competitors, Siebel Systems (SEBL: news, chart, profile), rose 5.7 percent, or 84 cents a share, to close at $15.70.
Among other software leaders, Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile) gained almost 1 percent, or 43 cents share, and closed at $55.68 after the company told Reuters it expects online advertising for its MSN portal to grow 25 percent in the coming fiscal year in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Manugistics (MANU: news, chart, profile) gained 11 percent, or 50 cents share, to close at $6.11 after the company announced a deal to develop new business-software applications with A.T. Kearney, a subsidiary of EDS. Liberate Technologies rose nearly 9 percent, or 23 cents a share, to close at $2.83 after the Wall Street Journal reported that Liberate (LBRT: news, chart, profile) could be a candidate for buying intereactive TV software maker Canal Plus Technologies from Vivendi Universal (V: news, chart, profile).
Advent Software (ADVS: news, chart, profile) announced it would delay its $23-million purchase of Techfi, after revealing that the Department of Justice's antitrust division had launched a preliminary investigation of the deal. Advent's shares gained nearly 2 percent, or 43 cents, to close at $25.26.
Enterprise software company Check Point Software (CHKP: news, chart, profile) rose 2.3 percent, or 35 cents a share, to close at $15.54, even though UBS Bancorp Piper Jaffray reduced its 2002 and 2003 fiscal year earnings and revenue estimates on the company due to concern over slow industry sales.
The Goldman Sachs Software Index ($GSO: news, chart, profile) gained 4.2 percent, or 4.82 points, to close at 118.84.
Ciena leading networkers
Shares of optical equipment maker Ciena (CIEN: news, chart, profile) shot up 13.5 percent, or 57 cents, to close at $4.80 as the networking sector responded to the news that Tellabs' (TLAB: news, chart, profile) CEO Richard Notebaert had left the company to replace Joseph Nacchio at the helm of Qwest Communications International (Q: news, chart, profile). See full story.
Networking leader Cisco Systems (CSCO: news, chart, profile) gained 5.4 percent, or 77 cents a share, to close at $15.07, while Juniper Networks (JNPR: news, chart, profile) rose 7.1 percent, or 51 cents, to finish the day at $7.66 and JDS Uniphase (JDSU: news, chart, profile) gained 7.3 percent,or 20 cents share, to reach $2.95.
Lucent Technologies (LU: news, chart, profile) gained 4.4 percent, or 12 cents a share, to close at $2.85, Nortel Networks (NT: news, chart, profile) rose 4.3 percent, or 7 cents a share, and closed at $1.71, and Alcatel (ALA.: news, chart, profile) gained 2.6 percent, or 25 cents a share, to close at $9.73.
The American Stock Exchange Networking Index ($NWX: news, chart, profile) ended the day up 4 percent, or 6.65 points, at 172.43.
Semis show strength
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: news, chart, profile) led a semiconductor surge, rising 12.5 percent, or $1.20 a share, to close at $10.80, Intel (INTC: news, chart, profile) gained 6 percent, or $1.28, and finished the day at $22.56 and Linear Technologies (LLTC: news, chart, profile) rose more than 6 percent, or $2.11, to close at $36.
Triquint Semiconductor (TQNT: news, chart, profile) also had a big day, rising nearly 9 percent, or 62 cents a share, to close at $7.75 after announcing it would purchase part of IBM's wireless chipset business.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX: news, chart, profile) gained 5.4 percent, or 22.96 points, to close the day at 448.96
Hardware
The Goldman Sachs Hardware Index ($GHA: news, chart, profile) rose 3.3percent, or 6.29 points, to close at 198.12 as large hardware makers also benefited from the overall market upswing. See full story.
Storage leader EMC (EMC: news, chart, profile) gained almost 3 percent, or 20 cents a share, to close at $7.16, while IBM (IBM: news, chart, profile) posted a gain of 1.3 percent, or 97 cents a share, to close at $77.14. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: news, chart, profile) gained 2.7 percent, or 47 cents a share, to close at $17.74.
Sun Microsystems (SUNW: news, chart, profile) rose 2.3 percent, or 14 cents a share, to close at $6.28, Dell Computer (DELL: news, chart, profile) gained 3.7 percent, or 96 cents a share, to close at $26.68 and Apple Computer (AAPL: news, chart, profile) rose 2.2 percent, or 44 cents a share to end the day at $20.54. |
