Techs edged up at midday Monday as a slew of mergers and some analyst talk inspired moves. The Nasdaq rose 47.92 to 4,090.60 and the Dow Jones industrial average gained 116.07 to 11,308.70.
The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index gained 5 to 549.73.
Shares of Yahoo! Inc, (Nasdaq: YHOO) dropped six percent after a Lehman Brothers analyst issued a cautious note on the Internet firm.
Meanwhile, shares of International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) gained 2 1/2 to 131 1/2 after Credit Suisse First Boston raised its 12-month price target on the stock to $150 from $125.
A few deals helped boost shares; Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (Nasdaq: AMCC), down 5 7/8 to 182 11/16, will acquire MMC Networks (Nasdaq: MMCN), up 30 3/4 to 109, in a deal worth $4.5 billion.
Web switch developer Alteon WebSystems Inc. (Nasdaq: ATON), up 5/16 to 148 1/16, agreed to acquire Bluetail AB, a Swedish Internet startup for about $152 million in stock.
Manugistics Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: MANU) jumped 11 1/8 to 73 1/8, or 17 percent Monday on news of a contract with John Deere (NYSE: DE), which will use the company's e-business software.
VoiceStream Wireless Corp.(Nasdaq: VSTR), up 3/8 to 118 9/16, said late Sunday it would buy Powertel Inc. (Nasdaq: PTEL), down 3 5/16 to 83 5/16, in a deal to expand its all digital GSM wireless coverage in the Southeastern United States.
Sabre Holdings Corp. (NYSE: TSG), down 13/16 to 28 15/16, announced plans to lay off 1,200 workers and acquire a business travel site. Sabre, which owns a 62 percent stake in travel site Travelocity.com Inc. (Nasdaq: TVLY), up 1 1/2 to 14 5/8, said it will buy GetThere Inc. (Nasdaq: GTHR), up 5 1/8 to 17 1/4, for $757 million.
Bluefly, Inc. (Nasdaq SmallCap: BFLY) shot up 1 1/18 to 3 1/16, or 67 percent, Monday after it announced a deal with America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL), down 15/16 to 59 1/16, for placement in the Shop@AOL online shopping destinations. Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) was up 13/16 to 40 3/4.
Among other leading tech issues: Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) fell 1/8 to 70 1/2, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) rose 1 9/16 to 74 1/2, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) gained 1 1/16 to 66 9/16, Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) rose 2 7/8 to 127 5/8 and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) rose 2 1/8 to 86 3/4.
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Discuss: MIDDAY MARKETS: Merger Monday boosts techs
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