New month, mixed start

Mixed start for new month

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) — After closing out their third worst monthly performance ever, Internet stocks kicked off November with mixed results. Investors shied away from Net infrastructure names, but warmed up to Net bellwethers like Yahoo, EBay and Amazon.com.

The Goldman Sachs Internet Index edged up 2.7 percent, after jumping 10 percent Tuesday. For the month of October, however, the 35-stock Net gauge lost 22 percent. The Amex Internet Index fell 1.6 percent, after a 7 percent advance in Tuesday’s action.

Merrill Lynch Internet Holdrs gained 4.4 percent, while Merrill Lynch Internet B2B Holdrs, a barometer of business-to-business Net stocks, gained .5 percent.

On the upside, Yahoo (YHOO) gained 9.8 percent to $64.36 and online auctioneer EBay (EBAY) gained 4.9 percent to $54.02.

Japanese book-market opportunity

Amazon.com (AMZN) also rose on Wendesday after the company rolled out its Japanese-language book site. The site, which will provide 1.7 million titles in Japanese and English, is Amazon’s fourth international foray. The company previously lauched sites in the U.K., France and Germany.

Amazon shares rose 2 percent to $37.38.

ONI Systems (ONIS) gave up 8.7 percent to $74 after jumping 16 percent Tuesday. The San Jose, Calif.-based supplier of next-generation metro/regional optical networking systems went public in May at $25.

Late Tuesday, ONI reported third-quarter results that topped expectations. On Wednesday, CSFB, an investment bank that was not part of ONI’s IPO, initiated coverage with a “strong buy.” ONI has a growing list of customers, the CSFB analyst said. ONI has 13 customers, up from only six just four months ago.

Inktomi (INKT) jumped 5.9 percent to $67.19. Thomas Weisel Partners reiterated its positive rating in hopes of alleviating concerns that the Internet infrastructure company’s business is slowing. Inktomi reported solid quarterly results last week but also announced that it would incur some dilution due to its acquisition of FastForward Networks.

America Online (AOL) and General Mills (GIS) set a multi-year alliance that gives AOL users discounts on food products. General Mills brands include Cheerios and Betty Crocker and Gold Medal Flour.

AOL shares rose 1.50 cents to $52. Shares of General Mills dropped 62 cents to $41.12.

CMGI (CMGI) jumped 22.6 percent to $20.69. Search engine AltaVista, which is a majority-owned subsidiary of CMGI, said it has begun offering Unicast-developed Superstitial multimedia advertisements on top of banner ads.

ICGE bolted up 17 percent to $15.50 after the company’s subsidiary ICG Commerce, announced a global strategic alliance with EDS (EDS) offer a total e-procurement service and technology platform to large and mid-sized companies.