Midday Markets: Techs flat, but rumor mill active

Jan. 2, 2002 4:43 p.m. PT

2 min read

Techs were sluggish at midday Wednesday despite a truckload of takeover rumors. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 6.65 to 2,573.61, while the Dow Jones industrial average slid 65 points to 10,656.41.

Nasdaq stocks were struggling out of the red Wednesday morning as markets were pulled down by a bond market still shaky in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's interest hike.

Inter@ctive Week's @Net Index slumped 0.65 to 298.

Among rumor-driven stocks, Beyond.com (Nasdaq: BYND) was up 23 percent to 31 11/16 after CNBC reported rumors that Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) might acquire the company.

Computer makers moved on rumors of acquisitions. Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) fell 7/16 to 23 3/8 following reports Compaq is planning to sell AltaVista to CMGI Inc. Gateway Inc. (NYSE: GTW) fell 7/8 to 63 7/8 on news it may acquire the Internet service provider EarthLink Network Inc. (Nasdaq: ELNK) which rocketed up 4 1/2 to 61 3/4.

CMGI Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI) gained 1/2 to 95 7/16 following speculation the AltaVista talk. Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) was up 1/8 to 152 5/8 while Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) was up 2 to 199 1/2 and Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq: LCOS), rose 3 7/16 to 92 1/2. Infoseek Corp. (Nasdaq: SEEK), grew 2 1/4 to 48 3/8, At Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) went up 1 7/16 to 55 11/16, and Mindspring (Nasdaq: MSPG) was up 4 3/4 to 78 3/8. America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) dropped 1 1/8 to 108 3/8.

Qwest Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: QWST) was down 2 13/16 to 32 1/2 after raising its bid for U.S. West Corp. (NYSE: USW), which was up 3/4 to 57 3/4. Frontier Corp. (NYSE: FRO) gained 1 1/8 to 59 1/8. Rival Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GBLX) was down 1 3/4 to 45 11/16.

Among other tech issues, Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) fell 3/8 to 37 3/16. Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) was down 1 5/16 to 44 1/16, and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) dropped 3/4 to 122 5/8.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) shed 1/4 to 86 1/4 and Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) added 5/8 to 56 9/16 while Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) fell 1 3/8 to 17 7/8.

3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS) dropped 3 7/8 to 27 5/8 following a warning that revenue may fall.

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) jumped 7/8 to 60 3/8 and Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU) picked up 1 1/2 to 64 3/16.

Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) gained l 7/16 to 34 9/16 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) was up 1 5/16 to 66 1/2, while AT&T Corp. (NYSE: T) shed 9/16 to 55 11/16.