MIDDAY MARKETS: Nasdaq retakes 4,000

The Nasdaq finally retook the 4,000 mark Tuesday as earnings announcements and abating Fed fears led techs into a rally again. The Nasdaq rose 19.39 to 4,009.22 and the Dow Jones industrial average lost 93.34 to 10,464.50.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index rose 10 to 505.83.

For the first time in two months, the Nasdaq was over 4,000. A batch of earnings reports and pre-announcements, as well as renewed hopes the Federal Reserve won't raise interest rates again, inspired the buying.

In economic news, the nation's trade deficit narrowed to $30.44 billion in April, after widening for the last year-and-a-half.

Micron Electronics (Nasdaq: MUEI), up 1 1/16 to 13 1/8 reported third quarter earnings of $5 million, or a nickel a share, on sales of $370 million. Rivals Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), off 5/8 to 48 15/16, and Gateway (NYSE: GTW), down 1 1/2 to 59, were sluggish.

NorthPoint (Nasdaq: NPNT), down 1/8 to 11 3/8, said it sees revenue of between $24 million and $26 million for its second quarter. Expenses are expected to have risen. Rival Covad (Nasdaq: COVD) was down 7/16 to 17 7/8.

Gadzoox Networks (Nasdaq: ZOOX) fell 6 3/8 to 13 15/16 after it said it anticipates first quarter revenue to be down by a third sequentially.

Blaze Software (Nasdaq: BLZE) was burning up 25 percent, or 3 7/8 to 19 3/8 Tuesday after German company Brokat Infosystems AG announced it would buy the company.

Engage Inc. (Nasdaq: ENGA) shot up 15 percent, or 1 9/16 to 16 15/16 at midday, following news it will get $75 million in investments from CMGI Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI), up 2 1/4 to 56 1/8, and Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ), up 3/4 to 28 3/16. DoubleClick (Nasdaq: DCLK) rose 4 to 41 1/16.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) rose 3/4 to 74 7/16. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) rose 2 1/4 to 138 3/4.

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) lost 3/4 to 85 1/4 ahead of its quarterly report, due out after the bell. Among other leading tech issues: Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) lost 3/4 to 68 3/16, Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW)rose 15/16 to 96 3/8 .

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) rose 15/16 to 46 1/4, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) rose 7 3/16 to 146 1/4 and America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) gained 1 15/16 to 56 7/16.