Midday Markets: Techs rebound

Techs were on an upswing at midday Friday, as the market tries to predict interest rate futures. The Nasdaq recovered 21 points to 2575.16, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 96 to 10,630.77.

Inter@ctive Week's @Net Index rose 4 points to 297.

Techs rebounded along with the blue-chips that rose on easing bond yields, which seemed less certain the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates again after next week's expected quarter percent.

Juno Online Services Inc. (Nasdaq: JWEB) jumped 3 5/8 to 25 13/16, up 17 percent on talk it could be a takeover target.

Juniper Networks (Nasdaq: JNPR) blasted up 197 percent, up 66 15/16 to 100 15/16.

Juniper will compete with such giants as Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), which jumped 1 1/16 to 61 5/16. Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU) gained 11/16 to 64 11/16 on news the company would acquire privately-held Nexabit. 3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS) inched up 3/8 to 26 7/8.

The trials and tribulations of telecom takeovers continued as Qwest Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: QWST) was up 3/4 to 33 13/16, as it continues to vie for West Corp. (NYSE: USW) up 7/16 to 58, and Frontier Corp. (NYSE: FRO) up 1/8 to 60. Competitor Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GBLX) was up 7/16 to 46 3/8. AT&T Corp. (NYSE: T) was up 13/16 to 54 15/16.

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), was up 1/2 to 114 3/8 after announcing it had named Joseph Galli as its president and chief operating officer. MindSpring Enterprises (Nasdaq: MSPG) was down 1 1/8 to 81.

America Online Inc.'s (NYSE: AOL) inched up 15/16 to 107 1/16 on news it was expanding to the Far East, and in talks with low-cost personal computer maker MicroWorkz.

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) rose 3/4 to 151 3/4, while Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq: LCOS), was down 1/2 to 94 15/16. Infoseek Corp. (Nasdaq: SEEK), was up 5/8 to 46 13/16, and At Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) rose 1/4 to 53 1/4.CMGI Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI) was down 7/8 to 95 5/8.

Among PC-related issues: Gateway Inc. (NYSE: GTW) was even at 62 5/8, Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) was up 1/16 to 38 3/16, and Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) rose 1/16 to 22 3/4. Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) moved up 3/16 to 42 1/2 and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) jumped 2 5/8 to 125 3/16.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) rose 1 3/8 to 86 and Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) tacked on 1 3/16 to 56 1/4. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) gained 1/8 to 17 3/16.

Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) rose 3/16 to 35 7/8, and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) rose 7/16 to 65.