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MARKET CLOSE: Dow takes flight; techs flat

2 min read

Technology stocks eked out slight gains Monday as the Nasdaq composite moved up 19 points to 2,489.63 despite some heavy selling in the storage equipment sector.

Investors fell in love with blue-chip issues as the Dow Jones industrial average rallied up 165 points to finish at 10,946.77.

"We are back and forth in this market," said Richard Cripps, chief market strategist at Legg Mason Wood Walker. "One week we are battered because there is very little earnings visibility. But on the other hand, for investors willing to look out longer--six to 12 months--clearly the stars are coming into alignment in terms of the economy bottoming out, earnings improving and lower interest rates."

Storage stocks were roughed up Monday as Emulex (Nasdaq: EMLX) tumbled $37.13 to $40.38 after warning that sales growth for its third quarter could come in sequentially flat due to order delays. The company was also downgraded at USB Piper Jaffray.

The news had a ripple effect across fibre-channel and storage-network stocks on fears of deterioration in storage and server spending. Shares of QLogic (Nasdaq: QLGC) fell $15.56 to $54.81, Brocade (Nasdaq: BRCD) closed off $11.13 to $63 and Veritas (Nasdaq: VRTS) slid $6.19 to $71.94.

Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) shares moved up $1.38 to $29.56. Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) inched up 7 cents to $30.57 and Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) lost 56 cents to end at $14.80.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) trimmed 25 cents to $23.25; Compaq (CPQ) lost 50 cents to $22; Gateway (GTW) added 85 cents to $19.60 and Apple Computer (AAPL) rose 56 cents to $23.

Microsoft (MSFT) clipped 38 cents to $58.75. Sun Microsystems (SUNW) moved up 94 cents to $25.50 and Oracle (ORCL) closed off 56 cents to $23.

Liberate Technologies (Nasdaq: LBRT) slumped $1.81 to $12.50 after a downgrade and research that suggests delays in deploying interactive TV will fall hardest on the set-top box software maker.

Yahoo (YHOO) added 56 cents to $28.50. America Online Time Warner (AOL) picked up 28 cents to $47.53 while Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) gained $1.13 and $2.56 a share, respectively. CMGI (CMGI) rose 25 cents to $5.53.

Intel (INTC) tacked on $1.06 to $34.56. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) clipped 37 cents to $24, and IBM (IBM) gained $2.90 to end at $114.90.