MIDDAY MARKETS: Techs revive

Techs were on the uptick again Thursday, revived by a smattering of deals and AOL's rebound. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 46.26 to 4,943.52, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 10.55 to 9,845.98.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index gained 14 to 671.55.

On the economic front, wholesale inventories rose 0.7 percent in January, the government said, slightly higher than the 0.4 percent gain expected by analysts.

America Online (NYSE: AOL) shares were up 9 percent, or 4 7/8 to 59 3/4, after chairman Steve Case said the company was considering a partnership with AT&T (NYSE: T), and the stock was reiterated as a "strong buy."

AT&T, down 3/8 to 52 5/8, named recent-hire Mohan Gyani president and chief executive of its wireless services unit, just weeks before AT&T is set to sell part of it in a huge IPO.

CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) was up ahead of its quarterly earnings report expected after the close of trading.

Covad Communications (Nasdaq: COVD), up 3 15/16 to 94 3/16, said it will buy LaserLink.net a provider of branded Internet access, in a deal worth about $387 million that will deliver complete broadband Internet services to its customers through company-branded access.

PictureTel Corp. (Nasdaq: PCTL), up 3 1/8 to 13 1/2, said it would provide IBM (NYSE: IBM) with a pan-Europe, Middle East and Africa videoconferencing service.

Corel (Nasdaq: CORL) jumped2 1/2 to 16 5/8, or 18 percent after CEO Michael Cowpland said on Wednesday that he is confident a merger with Inprise/Borland Corp. will go ahead despite the resignation of an Inprise board member.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) rose 1/8 to 95 11/16. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) lost 1 3/8 to 113 9/16.

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) rose 1 1/16 to 64 11/16, and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) rose 5 9/16 to 182 9/16.