MARKET CLOSE: AOL, Yahoo! surge in choppy trading

Leading Internet stocks managed to carve out some nice gains Friday but it wasn't enough to offset losses from the chip and chip-equipment sector. The Nasdaq lost 9 points to end at 2,740.41 while the Dow fell 39 points to close at 10,279.33.

Even though the Nasdaq lost ground, investors have good reason to celebrate considering it was off more than 65 points at one point Friday. Right now, investors are content to pick and choose from the oversold issues.

"We just continue to erode, although there are pockets of strength," said James Volk, co-director of institutional trading at D.A. Davidson and Co. "It's just a continuation of the correction."

In a day chalked full of initial public offerings, there were several stocks that made great first impresssions.

Alteon WebSystems Inc. (ATON) roared up 55 15/16 to 74 15/16. NetZero (NZRO) gained 13 1/8 to 29 1/8 and Keynote Systems Inc. (KEYN) picked up 13 1/4 to 27 1/4. Bluestone Software (BLSW) picked up 3 3/4 to 18 3/4 in its debut.

Interspeed Inc. (ISPD) closed up 6 5/16 to 18 5/16 but Webstakes.com (IWIN) was "broken," closing off 2 1/2 to 11 1/2.

America Online Inc. (AOL) finally showed signs of life, picking up 10 to 97 1/2. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) rose 2 1/2 to 65 and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) shot up 9 9/16 to 183 5/16. Lycos Inc. (LCOS) rallied up 3 9/16 to 46 15/16 and Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) trimmed 11/16 to end at 27 5/8.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) fell ? to 90 15/16, one day after its president, Steve Ballmer, called it and other technology stocks overvalued. Oracle Corp. (ORCL) ended off 1 5/16 to 42 3/16 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) added 9/16 to 90 3/16.

MCI WorldCom Inc (WCOM) fell 2 3/8 to 76 1/8 while Sprint Corp (FON) gained 2 7/8 to 54 on reports that the second- and third-largest U.S. long distance carriers are in talks to hook up. AT&T Corp. (T) inched up 3/16 to 42 5/8.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) moved up 11/16 to 43 11/16; Gateway Inc. (GTW) closed unchanged at 43 3/8; Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) lost 3/8 to 22 7/16 and Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) scampered up 1 5/8 to finish at 64 15/16.

Intel Corp. (INTC) fell 1 53/64 to 75 43/64 while Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) tacked on 3/16 and 3 a share, respectively.