Dow Breaks Its Winning Streak
By Nelson Schwartz
It wasn't pretty but it could have been a lot
worse. After rising early in the session Friday,
stocks plunged in late afternoon, only to recover
from their worst levels in the final half-hour
of trading. The run of record highs had to end
sooner or later. The Dow finished at 10789.04,
down 89.34, while the S&P 500 sank 7.65, to
1335.18. The NASDAQ actually managed to eke
out a decent gain, rising 14.41, to 2542.85.
Here's what we've been following:
A MIXED BAG.... Although the NASDAQ finished
higher, the tech group was generally mixed
Friday. While Microsoft fell 3/4, to $81 5/16,
and eBay sank 6 7/8, to $208 1/8, Amazon jumped
3 3/16, to $172 1/16, and AOL edged up 1 3/8,
to $142 3/4. One notable tech winner was Cisco
Systems, up 4 7/8, to $114 1/16. Morgan Stanley
reiterated its strong buy on the king of networking,
citing a 12-month target price of $135. The big
tech IPO of the day was Marimba, up 40 3/4, to
$60 3/4. For more on Marimba and its CEO, Kim
Polese, see Melanie Warner's story, The Beauty of Hype
(http://fortune.com/technology/1999/03/01/kim.html).
THE STORY BEHIND EMC.... A reader sent me an e-mail
asking why shares of storage-equipment maker EMC
have been so weak lately. It's a good question,
since EMC is one of the fastest-growing big tech
companies out there. Turns out that some investors
are worried that EMC will suffer as customers cut
back on purchases in order to pay for Y2K repairs.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about Y2K hurting
EMC too much because over the long term, the
company should bounce back from any temporary
weakness. EMC rose 1 5/8, to $108 3/4.
THE WAGES OF FEAR.... Normally, when a stock
drops nearly 10 points, it's because of an
earnings disappointment or some other calamity.
In the case of Restoration Hardware, just the fear
of weak numbers sent it tumbling 8 3/4, to $15 5/8.
Both Goldman and Montgomery downgraded the high-end
hardware store chain amid talk of shrinking margins,
and RSTO now trades below its June 1998 IPO price
of $19. Retail is among the riskiest corners of
the market and it will be very interesting to see
what happens when Restoration reports earnings
next month.
IT'S BIG, ALL RIGHT...You may have heard that
Priceline, which sells plane tickets among other
things, has a market cap that's bigger than some
major airlines. Well, I looked into it and it
turns out that at $23 billion, Priceline's market
value now exceeds that of Delta, United, USAir,
and Northwest COMBINED. Priceline rose 24 9/16,
to $162 3/8. I'm telling you, folks, this particular
bit of Internet mania cannot last. |
