MARKET CLOSE: Techs take back seat to cyclicals

Investors migrated out of technology stocks and into blue-chip offerings Tuesday as the Dow Jones industrial average moved up 198 points to 10,718.09 while the Nasdaq composite inched up 2 points to 4,420.32.

With Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's Humphrey-Hawkins testimony coming Thursday and a flurry of economic reports out later this week, traders decided to back away from high-flying tech stocks.

"This is the week for knocking off the techies and going after the blue-chips. That simply is the essence of the market. It's the rotation, not the averages," said Larry Wachtel, an analyst at Prudential Securities. "This market is floundering,"

Even the usually white-hot IPO market cooled a bit as VarsityBooks.com Inc. (VSTY) lost 1/8 to 9 7/8 in its debut. Savvis Communications Inc. (SVVS) closed unchanged at 24 but Chordiant Software Inc. (CHRD) raced up 21 7/16 to 39 7/16 after pricing 4.85 million shares at $18 a share.

Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) marched up 1 7/16 to 37 7/8 while Gateway Inc. (GTW) and Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) tacked on 2 9/16 and 3 3/16 a share, respectively. Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) closed up 1 3/4 to 26 7/16.

Compuware (Nasdaq: CPWR) closed up 3 1/8 to 23 9/16 on bullish coverage from an analyst. The company recently completed its acquisition of BlairLake.

Internet stocks were mixed as Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) rose 4 1/4 to 170 but America Online Inc. (AOL) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) fell 1 15/16 and 5/8 a share, respectively. Lycos Inc. (LCOS) shed 1 1/16 to 69 1/4 and Excite@Home Corp. (ATHM) gained 2 9/16 to finish at 35 15/16.

Ebookers.com (Nasdaq: EBKR) stormed up 5 1/16 to 26 5/8 after it inked a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal with AOL Europe, under which it will pay the company $24 million over two years.

Nextlink Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: NXLK) picked up 5 11/16 to 102 9/16 after it reported a net loss Tuesday of $1.57 a share in its fourth quarter.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) closed off 1 1/16 to 98 9/16. Oracle Corp. (ORCL) lost 13/16 to 61 3/8 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) added 2 7/16 to 93 11/16.

Intel Corp. (INTC) rose 2 1/8 to 112 and Rambus (RMBS) soared up 40 19/64 to 151 47/64.