Traders Gobble Up Techs
Technology stocks bounced back from a one-day sell off and charged back to set yet another all-time record high. Tech led the broad market higher as well, but a hot economy, record equity values and rising oil prices kept inflation fears alive and pressured many interest rate-sensitive issues.
The Dow gained 12.54 to 11,008.17, the Nasdaq rallied 77.62 to 3420.49 and the S&P 500 added 12.38 to 1417.08.
Stocks sold off initially on a government report showing that revised figures for third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) rose at a faster-than-expected 5.5% pace. Interest-sensitive financials American Express [AXP>AXP], JP Morgan [JPM>JPM] and Citigroup [C>C] all fell by more than 1.6% and restrained the Dow’s gains.
But the market roared back from early lows as traders piled into the tried-and-true big cap Nasdaq stocks. Microsoft [MSFT>MSFT], Intel [INTC>INTC], Dell [DELL>DELL], MCI Worldcom [MCI>MCI] and Qualcomm [QCOM>QCOM] all posted solid gains on the day. Cisco [CSCO>CSCO], from the Internet Fab-5 List, rallied 3 15/16 to close at a 52-week high of 92 7/16.
One of the few tech turkeys of the day was Oracle [ORCL>ORCL], which slipped 1 11/16 to end at 71 13/16.
Internets soared along with the rest of the tech sector. Internet advertising giant Doubleclick [DCLK>DCLK] hit a new all-time high and traded up as many as 10 before finishing the day up 1 5/16 at 174 5/16. The company received analysts’ upgrades yesterday after the close and also benefited from new Media Metrix (the Nielson Ratings of the Internet) figures showing a rise in Internet usage.
Also posting big “Net-gains” were CMGI [CMGI>CMGI], up 6 1/16 to 143 5/8, Yahoo [YHOO>YHOO], up 9 13/16 to 231 (just 13 away from an all-time high), and Amazon [AMZN>AMZN], up 5 1/2 to 87 1/4. Verisign [VRSN>VRSN], the Internet digital-certificate company, also rocketed to new highs. The company traded as high as 197 before closing up 4 at 191.
Optical network equipment-maker, JDS Uniphase [JDSU>JDSU] from the Proprietary Momentum List, continues to push skyward to new 52-week highs and added 18 1/4 to close at 256 9/16. Optical Coating [OCLI>OCLI] a recent acquisition of JDSU and a high relative strength stock from Mark Boucher’s Trading Watch List rose 12 15/16 to 217 7/8.
Happy Thanksgiving!