Midday Markets: Nets pop while market fizzles

A few Net stocks flared up at midday on Friday. The Nasdaq slipped 26 to 2,515 and the @Net dropped 6 to 310. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 49 to 10,816.

Blue chips were pushed to the side at midday as investors snatched up a handful of smaller stocks. To illustrate, the Standard & Poor's 500, comprised solely of large capitalization companies, slipped 8 to 1,330 while the small cap laden Russell 2000 index edged up 0.04 to 448.

EToys Inc. (Nasdaq: ETYS) slipped 6 9/16 to 70 in second day, cast aside like an old toy for a new, shiny bauble.

Hauppage Digital Inc. (Nasdaq: HAUP) gained 4 27/64 to 16 59/64 after a BusinessWeek column said that the company was teaming with an Internet streaming media programmer.

Healtheon Corp. (Nasdaq: HLTH) rose 6 1/16 to 106 11/16 after merging with the revenue-poor WebMD.

Modem Media Poppe Tyson Inc. (Nasdaq: MMPT) climbed 2 3/4 to 27 after BusinessWeek, citing unnamed sources, said that its said were headed back to $45 a share.

Priceline.com Inc. (Nasdaq: PCLN) added 4 to 138 3/8 after Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette began coverage with a "buy" rating.

USWeb Corp. (Nasdaq: USWB) rose 5/8 to 27 1/8 after Dain Rauscher boosted its opinion to "strong buy" from "buy."

Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) dropped 1 17/64 to 36 36/64 and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) dropped 3 3/16 to 229 11/16 and Gateway Inc. (NYSE: GTW) declined 1/8 to 61 1/8.

Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) dipped 11/16 to 57and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) lost 3/16 to 20 3/16.

Among software makers, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) dropped 5/8 to 77 13/16 and Computer Associates International Inc. (NYSE: CA) lost 1/4 to 45 1/2 after extending its bid for Platinum.