MARKET CLOSE: Techs soar in late trading
Technology stocks caught fire in late trading Monday as the Nasdaq composite hustled up 60 points to close at 3,849.46. Blue-chip stocks enjoyed another strong day as the Dow Jones industrial average gained 148 points to finish at 11,176.14.
"Investors are encouraged by recent data suggesting that the Fed is not going to raise rates," said Jack Shaughnessy, chief investment strategist at Advest. "The only stocks that are being affected are the ones where there is a concern that there could be a loss of earnings momentum."
Novell (NOVL) shares showed plenty of momentum Monday, gaining 1 13/16, or 20 percent, to 11 on heavy volume. Unsubstantiated rumors of a possible takeover by IBM (NYSE: IBM), up 2 1/2 to 123 1/8, added to the drama.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) inched up 3/16 to 64 1/2 while Lucent Technologies (LU) and Nortel Networks (NT) added 1/2 and 3 1/4 a share, respectively.
Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM) stormed up 15 11/16 to 240 3/4 after announcing it will acquire privately held NewPort Communications in a deal worth around $1.2 billion.
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) moved up 3 1/8 to 66 15/16 after announcing it has agreed to buy privately held Ziatech Corp. in a cash deal valued at about $240 million. Fellow chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) gained 5 1/4 to end at 63.
FreeMarkets Inc. (Nasdaq: FMKT) added 1 1/2 to 56 15/16 after it announced it had made inroads in the metals industry Monday through a deal with Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA).