Dell, Cisco Reassure Bulls

With the weight of higher initial jobless claims on its back, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average
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rallied higher early in the day, but headed
back down during the latter part of the trading session.  Dell Computer
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sparked the day’s early rally by reaffirming Wall Street that it was comfortable
with analysts’ earnings estimates for their first quarter.  The S&P 500
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also headed lower as it dipped 2.66 points to close at
1069.62.  The only bright spot for the day was the tech-laden Nasdaq
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,
which managed to gain 16.70 points to close at 1597.51.  

Breadth on the NYSE was positive, as advancers  beat decliners  17
to 13 on volume of over 1.8 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, breadth was
also positive, as advancers beat decliners 20 to 15 on volume of over  2.5
billion shares.

Among the most active stocks for the day was Dell Computer
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, which gained
1.68 to 22.32.  Dell has bounced back to the price level it held before the
September 11 attack. 

Cisco Systems
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is higher for the second day in a row after they
reassured Wall Street that they, too, are comfortable with analysts’ estimates. 
Cisco gained .47 to close at 14.42.

Nextel
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gained almost 25% as it announced that it would upgrade
its existing communications network to handle double its existing
capacity.  Nextel closed at 9.16, up 1.80.

Strongest sectors for the day included semiconductor
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and oil
stocks
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. 
While weakest sectors for the day included banks
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and biotechs
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.