Market Close: IBM sends Dow to all-time record

IBM Corp.'s (NYSE: IBM) stunning 20-point gain helped push the Dow up 107 points to a record close of 11,107.19 Thursday but some late profit-taking pulled the Nasdaq down 24 points to 2,582.08.

IBM, which closed up 20 to 245 1/2, received glowing reviews from analysts after CEO Lou Gerstner said the company would be one of the largest beneficiaries of the Internet's tremendous growth.

Investors were also encouraged by April's Producer Price Index. The core rate rose only 0.1 percent last month, yet another sign that inflation is still firmly in check.

"It looks like we're at the tail end of a whirlwind in the techs," said Ken Ducey, head of trading at BT Brokerage. "They had another good run on the coattails of IBM, but now it looks like the day trading group is taking some profits."

IBM's success didn't carry over to the rest of the hardware sector as Intel Corp. (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) lost 2 7/16 and 1 3/16 a share, respectively.

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) fell 2 5/16 to 23 on speculation that the company will warn analysts that their expectations are too high. Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) lost 1 3/8 to 79 1/8 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) inched up 1/16 to 65 3/16.

Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) fell 11/16 to 43 1/4. Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) shed 5/16 to 26 1/8 while Gateway Inc. (GTW) and Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) lost 9/16 and 5/16 a share, respectively.

After making decent gains in early trading, Internet stocks were tagged near the session's close.

America Online Inc. (AOL) fell 5 13/16 to 132 5/8. Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) slid 9 9/16 to 160 3/8 and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) closed off 6 15/16 to 136.

CMGi Inc. (CMGI) lost 1 11/16 to 238 1/16 after Gateway invested $200 million in the investment company. eBay Inc. (EBAY) fell 6 ? to 192 1/2 after teaming with Skytel Corp. (Nasdaq: SKYT) to allow eBay users to get auction updates via pagers, cell phones and other wireless means. SkyTel (SKYT) closed off 1 31/32 to 19 _.

Lycos Inc. (LCOS), which is majority-owned by CMGi, inched up 11/16 to 107 11/16 after reiterating that it would meet expectations for its third quarter. Results for the quarter are due out after market close on Tuesday.

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) dipped 1 1/16 to 117 11/16 day after beating expectations earlier this week. Ascend Communications Inc. (ASND) dropped 1 _ to 98 and 3Com Corp. (COMS) ended off 1 to 26 9/16.