Nasdaq Posts Record Close In Roller-Coaster Session
Technology and Internet shares took the Nasdaq to all-time highs early Thursday, but a mid-day sell-off kept traders anxious for most of the day. The Nasdaq experienced wide price swings and moved between positive and negative throughout the day before closing at a record high. The Nasdaq traded on all-time record volume.
According to preliminary numbers, the Dow gained 66.67 to 11134.79, the Nasdaq managed to rise 6.42 to 3592.50, and the S&P 500 added 4.08 to 1407.96.
Among the best performing groups Thursday were Internets [$GIN.X>$GIN.X], up 5.0%, retailers [$RLX.X>$RLX.X], up 3.1%, forest and paper products [$FPP.X>$FPP.X], up 1.7%, and broker/dealers [$XBD.X>$XBD.X], up 1.9%
Groups showing the most weakness included semiconductors [$SOX.X>$SOX.X], down 4.1%, oil services [$OSX.X>$OSX.X], down 3.2%, gold and silver [$XAU.X>$XAU.X], down 3.2%, and transportation [$TRX.X>$TRX.X], down 2.3%.
The Linux love-fest was evident again in Thursday trading. IPO VA Linux [LNUX>LNUX], which was priced at 30 and opened at 299, traded as high as 320 before selling off to finish the day up 220 at 250. Other Linux-related stocks like Red Hat [RHAT>RHAT] (+15), Corel [CORL>CORL] (+10 15/16), and Perle Systems [PERL>PERL] (+9 3/16), were among the better performers of the day. Linux is an operating system that is a potential alternative to Microsoft’s Windows.
Among top-performing Dow stocks, recent laggards Coca-Cola [KO>KO], Johnson & Johnson [JNJ>JNJ], and Disney [DIS>DIS] rose more than 2% each. Also helping the Dow close positive for the day were gains by Alcoa [AA>AA], International Paper [IP>IP], and Chevron [CHV>CHV]. IBM [IBM>IBM] was the weakest Dow component of the day, shedding more than 3%.
After facing selling pressures over the past couple weeks, Broker/dealers posted nice gains Thursday. In fact, Morgan Stanley DW [MWD>MWD] even hit a 52-week high early in the session. E*Trade [EGRP>EGRP] gained more than 8% on the day, while Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette [DLJ>DLJ] and AG Edwards [AGE>AGE] also posted gains of more than 3% each.
Tyco International [TYC>TYC] sank 9 9/16 to 26 11/16 after announcing that the SEC would conduct a “non-public formal inquiry” about the company’s accounting practices. The stock had traded at an all-time high of 53 7/8 as recently as October 8, 1999, before its accounting problems began.
Among Internets, Amazon.com [AMZN>AMZN] rocketed after a JP Morgan analyst gave the stock a “strong buy†rating and set a 160 price target. The online e-tailing giant hit an all-time high of 113 before selling-off to finish the day up 14 7/16 at 103.
Other Internets posting solid gains and hitting all-time highs Thursday included CMGI [CMGI>CMGI], Chemdex [CMDX>CMDX], and TIBCO Software [TIBX>TIBX]. AOL [AOL>AOL] staged a late surge to close up more than 3 points.
Traders now await Friday’s wholesale price data which comes out at 8:30 AM ET. Wall Street consensus looks for a 0.2% increase in the Producer Price Index and a 0.1% increase in the core rate.