MARKET CLOSE: Jobs report keeps rally alive

Internet and hardware stocks made strong gains once again Friday, lifting the Nasdaq composite 46 points to yet another record close of 3,102.20. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 65 points to 10,704.48.

A better-than-expected jobs report buoyed investor spirits.

October payroll data helped assuage investor worries about inflation and interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve Bank. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, October non-farm payrolls grew 310,000, a level below market expectations.

Average hourly earnings showed a rise of 0.1 percent to $13.37 from September's $13.36.

"The numbers helped people to feel confident that there will be only a little rate change or no rate change," said Ron Doran, director of institutional trading at C.L. King & Associates. "This is good for stock prices. You will get a lot of money flowing into equities but I would not be surprised to see some money backing off from this level."

Intel Corp. (INTC) rose 13/16 to 82 4/8. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) tacked on 11/16 to 21 5/16 and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) fell 1 1/4 to 90 5/16.

A pair of initial public offerings got off to terrific starts Friday as Cobalt Networks Inc. (COBT) blasted up 106 1/8 to 128 1/8 while online grocer Webvan (Nasdaq: WBVN) rose 9 7/8 to 24 7/8.

America Online Inc. (AOL) shot up 2 3/8 to 146 5/8. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) gained 1 7/8 to 64 15/16 while Lycos Inc. (LCOS) and Excite@Home Corp. (ATHM) added 5/16 and 23/32 a share, respectively. Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) picked up 1 5/16 to 183 7/16 and Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) closed off 1 to 33 1/2.

Heavy marketing expenses led to a hefty loss for iVillage's (Nasdaq: IVIL) third quarter, the company announced Friday. The loss was narrower than the $1.39 a share predicted by First Call, but far wider than the second quarter's loss. Its shares closed off 9/16 to 25 15/16.

Teligent Inc. (Nasdaq: TGNT) closed up 15 7/8 to 63 7/8 after it confirmed Friday that it has raised $500 million in new capital to expand its buildout of local broadband networks across the country and around the world.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) closed off 3/16 to 91 9/16. Oracle Corp. (ORCL) added 1/2 to 58 11/16 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) moved up 2 1/8 to 109 11/16.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) lopped off 1 13/16 to 40 3/4; Gateway Inc. (GTW) jumped 2 1/2 to 72 3/4; Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) shot up 4 11/16 to 88 5/16 and Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) closed up 1 13/16 to 20 7/8.

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) broke out of its recent slump, gaining 3 7/16 to 73 7/16. 3Com Corp. (COMS) inched up 3/8 to 29 7/16 and Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) closed off 5/8 to 67 1/8.