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MARKET CLOSE: Nasdaq sets another record

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Technology stocks made strong gains again Wednesday, pushing the Nasdaq composite up 88 points to a record close of 4,784.32. The Dow Jones industrial average cooled in late trading but still managed to close up 8 points to 10,136.38.

"I believe the worst is over for the old economy stocks," said Peter Cardillo, the director of research at Westfalia Investments. "And Nasdaq wants to get to 5,000 before any serious pullback happens."

In economic news, the National Association of Purchasing Management index rose to 56.9 from 56.3 in January. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged. Spending on new construction also increased more than analysts had forecasts - it was up 2.7 percent in January.

3Com Corp. (COMS) shares continued their recent hot streak, surging up 7 1/8 to 105 1/8 ahead of Thursday's initial public offering of its Palm Computing spin-off.

Lucent Technologies soared up 8 1/2 to 68 after it announced plans to form a new company in the hot area of enterprise networking. Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) fell 3/8 to 131 13/16.

Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) shares stormed up 15 11/16 to a 52-week high of 130 5/16 after a Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette analyst said the PC maker could post better-than-expected earnings in its second quarter. Gateway Inc. (GTW) rose 1 1/16 to 69 13/16 while Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) and Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) finished up 7/8 and 2 13/64 a share, respectively.

A couple of IPOs got off to fine starts as Onvia.com (Nasdaq: ONVI), an e-marketplace for small businesses formerly known as MegaDepot.com, closed up 40 1/2 to 61 1/2 and MatrixOne (MONE) rallied up 48 13/16 to 73 13/16 in its debut.

Internet stocks were roughed up a bit as Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) lost 1 3/16 to 158 1/2 and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) shed 3 to 65 7/8.

Lycos Inc. (LCOS) fell 2 3/8 to 57 1/4 and Excite@Home Corp. (ATHM) closed off 1/2 to 33 13/16.

DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK) plunged 8 1/4 to 80 9/16 on reports that AltaVista and Kozmo.com may distance themselves from the Internet advertising network, partly out of concerns about its privacy issues.

Galileo Technology (Nasdaq: GALT) tumbled 3 to 16 7/16 after it warned first quarter revenue and profits would be below analyst expectations.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) gained 1 1/16 to 69 13/16 and Oracle Corp. (ORCL) fell 2 3/4 to 71 1/2. Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) shot up 2 11/16 to 97 15/16.

Intel Corp. (INTC) picked up 2 to 115 and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) closed up 15/16 40 7/16.