MIDDAY MARKETS: Merger mania drives techs

The Dow was back up to speed with the Nasdaq at midday Monday, even as merger mania kept techs going. The Nasdaq rose 13.42 to 4,408.87, and the Dow Jones industrial average climbed 107.35 to 10,532.56.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index gained 5 to 598.68.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) rose 1 1/16 to 101, despite the concern over bugs in its new Windows 2000. Among other bellwethers, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) was up 1 13/16 to 107 11/16, Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) slipped 1 15/16 to 129, and Dell Computer (Nasdaq: DELL) was up 1/16 to 36 15/16.

Computer Associates (NYSE: CA) fell 5/16 after it said it will acquire e-business software company Sterling Software (NYSE: SSW) in a stock swap valued at $4 billion. Sterling was up 2 5/16 to 36 3/4.

Phone.com (Nasdaq: PHCM) lost 3 7/8 to 117 1/4 after it said it will buy Onebox.com in a stock swap valued at $850 million.

Healtheon/WebMD (Nasdaq: HLTH), up 2 15/16 to 57 15/16, will buy Medical Manager Corp. (Nasdaq: MMGR) along with its publicly traded subsidiary, CareInsite, Inc. (Nasdaq: CARI), up 5 1/8 to 73.

CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) rose 3 7/16 to 115 1/2 as it added to its rapidly expanding network of Internet companies Monday with the acquisition of Tallan.

I2 Technologies (Nasdaq: ITWO) rose 19 1/4 to 260 after it said Monday its business-to-business platform will be used in a joint venture called MyAircraft.com.

DealTime.com an independent, online comparison shopping service, said on Monday it has secured $50 million in financing, including some from Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), down 11/16 to 82 15/16 and America Online (NYSE: AOL), down 1 3/8 to 55 5/8, which are merging to form an Internet and media giant. Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) fell 1 9/16 to 169 3/4 and Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) fell 1 3/16 to 75.

Earnings news also continued. Tickets.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: TIXX), an online ticketing company, said it lost 45 cents a share in its fourth quarter, much narrower than First Call's expectation, but shares fell 13/16 to 15 5/16.