Market Close: Internets bounce back

The Dow Jones industrial average rallied up 171 points to close at 10,702.16 and the Nasdaq composite picked up 45 points to 2,426.26 Wednesday as bargain-hunting investors snapped up Internet stocks on the cheap.

While Wednesday's rally doesn't necessarily mean the worst is behind the downtrodden Internet sector, it's an encouraging step in the right direction.

"I think its just a reaction to what many investors think was an oversold position," said George Rodriquez, senior vice president at Guzman & Co. "The overriding factor was just a sense that the market was a bit oversold."

IBM Corp. (IBM) stormed up 15 1/16 to 236 ? re-establishing it as everyone's favorite technology play this month. Intel Corp. (INTC) fell another 1 1/2 to 51 3/8 and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) added 3/4 to 19 3/16.

America Online Inc. (AOL) picked up 5 1/4 to 120 1/4. Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) shot up 13 15/16 to 140 7/8 and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) rose 9 3/8 to 120 15/16. Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) trimmed 1/8 to 42 1/8 while Excite Inc. (XCIT) and Lycos Inc. (LCOS) gained 13 1/16 and 5 1/2 a share, respectively.

Initial stock offerings met mixed reactions Wednesday as DLJDirect (DIR) added 10 1/4 to 30 1/4 but Juno Online Services Inc. (JWEB) lost 1 3/8 to 11 5/8 in its debut.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) was unchanged at 34 9/16; Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) rose 1/2 to 24 5/16; Gateway Inc. (GTW) moved up 3 13/16 to 60 7/8 and Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) hustled up 2 9/16 to 44 1/16.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) added 2 1/4 to 78 1/2 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) shot up 5 3/4 to 60 13/16. Oracle Corp. (ORCL) fell 9/16 to 23 7/16.

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) picked up 4 3/4 to 109 1/8 and Ascend Communications Inc. (ASND) moved up 1 9/16 to close at 91 5/8.