MARKET CLOSE: Dow jumps 138 points; techs add to gains

Technology stocks kept their winning streak intact Wednesday as the Nasdaq composite scampered up another 19 points to finish at 2,223.92.

The Dow Jones industrial average rallied up 138 points to close at 10,729.60.

"You want to believe you have seen the worst, but anybody's predictions are a leap of faith," said Dick Schmaltz, director of investment at J. & W. Seligman. "On the one side, operating fundamentals continue to deteriorate. On the other side the market has been correcting now for almost a year."

Abby Joseph Cohen, Goldman Sachs' chief investment strategist, helped tech stocks move higher after she told clients to use their cash to buy beaten-down stocks and raised the equity allocation in Goldman's model portfolio to 70 percent from 65 percent.

"Many of the imbalances identified during the past year have now been largely redressed," said Cohen, one of Wall Street's most influential strategists. Last March Cohen recommended that investors reduce their holdings in technology stocks.

Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) shares closed off $1.44 to $20.94 after the stock was halted for most of the day after Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget said the company has dropped out of his brokerage's Internet conference in New York. Yahoo will hold a conference call at 2:15 p.m. PST today to explain itself.

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) inched up 38 cents to $12.25, while eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) and CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) gained $2.19 and 50 cents a share, respectively. America Online Time Warner (NYSE: AOL) dropped $1.24 to $45.30.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) gained $1.44 to $32.94 after a couple of analysts cut the company's ratings and warnedinvestors not to expect a V-shaped recovery.

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) gained 25 cents to $25, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) rose $1.55 to finish at $107.55.

Shares of Broadcom (Nasdaq: BRCM) shed $7.63 to $40.25 a day after the company warned investors it would fall short of earnings and revenue expectations for the first quarter.

Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) closed unchanged at $24. Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) inched up a nickel to $19, and Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) lost 35 cents to $12.75.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell Computer (Nasdaq: DELL) trimmed 25 cents to $25.94, Gateway (NYSE: GTW) added 75 cents to $17.72, Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) lost 38 cents to $21.79 and Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) clipped 25 cents to finish at $21.25.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) picked up $1.25 to $60.69. Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) moved up $1 to $18.63, and Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) trimmed 19 cents to $22.06.

ZDII staff and Reuters contributed to this roundup.