MARKET CLOSE: PC, networking stocks lift Nasdaq

Technology stocks made decent gains Thursday as the Nasdaq composite picked up 48 points to close at 3,845.64. Software, personal computer and networking stocks moved higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average managed to close up 27 points to 10,714.872 even though it appears the Federal Reserve Board may continue raising interest rates despite signs that the economy is slowing a bit.

"There continues to be money on the sidelines, that money wanting to go to perceived leadership and the perception through this confusion that the Fed is going to be gentle," said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter Ltd. "If that is the case, money has to be put to work."

Investors also took note of comments from Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Alfred Broaddus who said interest rates may still go up despite signs that economic growth was starting to slow.

Microsoft (MSFT) shares tacked on 1 7/8 to 72 4/8 while Oracle (ORCL) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) gained 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 a share, respectively.

Corel (CORL) trimmed 1/4 to 3 25/32 after warning its second-quarter sales and earnings will miss analysts' estimates.

Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) tumbled 9 1/16 to 61 7/16 following comments from the company's CFO about the possible impact of a Globalstar (Nasdaq: GSTRF) failure and speculation about the company's business in South Korea.

Analysts were mixed on whether a change in manufacturing in South Korea would impact the wireless communications company's business. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) closed up 1 9/16 to 34 1/8.

Gateway (GTW) led the PC sector higher Thursday, adding 3 5/16 to 54 9/16. Apple Computer (AAPL) rose 1 15/16 to 92 3/8 while Compaq (CPQ) and Dell (DELL) moved up 2 1/16 and 11/16 a share, respectively.

Conexant (Nasdaq: CNXT) jumped 6 1/2 to 48 after the stock got an upgrade from Morgan Stanley.

Digital River, Inc., (Nasdaq: DRIV) shaved off 2 1/2, or 24 percent, to a 52-week low of 7 3/4 after it said sales for the second quarter will miss estimates, but earnings should remain on track.

Yahoo! (YHOO) inched up 3/16 to 139 11/16. America Online (AOL) picked up 2 1/16 to 54 1/2 while eBay (EBAY) and Lycos (LCOS) gained 1 5/16 and 13/16 a share, respectively. Amazon.com (AMZN) lost 1/8 to 46 5/16.

Among widely held networking stocks, Cisco Systems (CSCO) added 1 5/16 to 66 1/2; Nortel Networks (NT) pushed up 3 3/16 to 67 9/16; Lucent Technologies (LU) rose 3 1/16 to 59 11/16 and 3Com (COMS) closed up 7/16 to 49 11/16.

Intel (INTC) finished up 1 13/16 to 128 1/4 and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) closed off 1 1/4 to 82 1/2.