MARKET CLOSE: Technology stocks catch fire

Investors returned from the three-day weekend with buying on the brain Tuesday as the Nasdaq composite shot up 254 points to 3,459.35, its second-largest, one-day gain in history. The Dow Jones industrial average motored up 228 points to close at 10,527.13.

Bargain hunters snapped up shares of technology leaders such as Cisco, Sun Microsystems and the entire semiconductor sector.

All these gains came despite a report showing the consumer confidence gauge for May surpassed analysts' expectations, reaching 144.4 from a revised 137.7 in April.

At this point, all signs indicate the Fed is likely to tighten the closely watched Fed funds rate by 25 basis points on June 28, but may defer increase if forthcoming data remains soft.

"Bulls like us believe that higher interest rates and shrinking money supply are already slowing the economy and, as a result, 50 basis points or less are left in the Fed's anti-inflation gun," said Tom Galvin, chief investment strategist for brokerage house Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) led the Internet sector higher, gaining 4 15/16 to 116 13/16. America Online Inc. (AOL) rose 5 1/16 to 53 9/16 while Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and eBay Inc. (EBAY) charged up 5 1/4 and 5 3/32 a share, respectively.

SDL (Nasdaq: SDLI) jumped 24 1/8 to 221 7/8 after it said it and JDS Uniphase will extend a contract through 2001. JDS Uniphase (JDSU) picked up 10 19/32 to 91 3/32 and Ciena Corp. (CIEN) moved up 21 13/16 to 121 1/2.

Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch (Nasdaq: TMCS) gained 1 11/16 to 16 15/16 said it had bought privately-held TicketWeb in an all-stock deal worth $35.2 million.

Juno Online (Nasdaq: JWEB) closed up 9/16 to 7 1/2 after it said it has selected LookSmart (Nasdaq: LOOK), up 1 13/16 to 14 1/2, to provide search services on its portal site.

Gateway Inc. (NYSE: GTW) stormed up 5 11/16 to 52 1/2 after announcing it will use Transmeta Corp.'s Crusoe processors in a new line of Internet appliances being developed with America Online Inc.

Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) added 1 3/16 to 87 9/16 while Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) and Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) rose 1 5/8 and 1/4 a share, respectively.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) edged up 1 15/16 to 63 3/8. Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) hustled up 6 3/4 to 80 and Oracle Corp. (ORCL) tacked on 5 1/16 to 53 9/16.

Intel Corp. (INTC) motored up 8 3/16 to 123 3/4. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) charged up 11 to 85 and IBM Corp. (IBM) closed up 4 to 110 15/16.

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) rallied up 4 15/16 to 59 7/8 while Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) and Nortel Networks (NT) finished up 2 7/16 and 3 3/4 a share, respectively.>