MARKET CLOSE: Cisco, Sun lead techs higher

Jan. 2, 2002 4:43 p.m. PT

2 min read

Technology stocks closed out the week with strong gains Friday as the Nasdaq composite hustled up 97 points to 3,816.81. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 165 points to finish at 10,577.86.

Buyers convinced the Fed will raise interest rates by 50 basis points later this month decided to grab some quality stocks at discounted prices.

"There was some discussion about whether the Federal Reserve would raise rates by 25 or 50 basis points but the unemployment number makes it look like it will be 50," said Guy Truicko, portfolio manager at Unity Management. "There is kind of a relief here that it is going to be 50. I think the removal of the uncertainty has people coming back into stocks, as crazy as it seems."

Cisco Systems (CSCO) shares moved up 4 1/8 to 67 3/4 after announcing it agreed to buy recently public ArrowPoint Communications (Nasdaq: ARPT) for about $5.7 billion.

Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) closed off 1 7/16 to 58 13/16 and 3Com Corp. (COMS) ended up 1 1/16 to 43 1/8.

J.D. Edwards & Company fell 1 to 15 1/16 after warning it would lose between $20 and $25 million for its second quarter.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) moved up 11/16 to 71 1/8 while Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) and Oracle Corp. (ORCL) added 4 7/8 and 2 9/16 a share, respectively.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) gained 2 9/16 to 49 13/16; Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) inched up 1/16 to 27 1/4; Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) rose 2 7/16 to 113 1/8 and Gateway Inc. (GTW) tacked on 1 3/16 to close at 53 7/16.

P-Com Inc. (Nasdaq: PCMS) lost 2 7/16 to 9 1/16 after it reported a net loss of 21 cents a share for its first quarter, blaming high materials and start-up costs for weak gross margins.

Intel Corp. (INTC) rose 3 13/16 to 123 3/8. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) pushed up 2 1/4 to 92 1/4 and IBM Corp. (IBM) picked up 1/4 to 107 7/8.

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) rose 1 1/2 to 125 11/16 while America Online Inc. (AOL) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) finished up 5/8 and 3 7/16 a share, respectively.