Market Close: Wall Street maintains momentum

Wall Street didn't stage a huge rally Thursday, but it did manage to finish with some decent gains as Internet and software stocks were solid for the second day in a row. The Dow added 57 points to 10,841.63 while the Nasdaq moved up 26 points to 2,544.18.

The best part about Thursday trading was that it didn't give back all the gains it made during Wednesday's broad-based rally.

"The market is hanging in very well so far. It's heartening considering yesterday's gains," said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter Ltd.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan restated the obvious in his testimony to the Joint Economic Committee, basically telling the world the Fed will jack up short-term interest rates by one-quarter point.

After falling more than 50 percent from their 52-week highs, it appears that Internet stocks have finally rediscovered their momentum.

America Online Inc. (AOL) added 4 1/4 to 110 3/4. Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) rose 5/8 and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) tacked on 1 1/4 to 112 15/16. CMGi Inc. (CMGI) hustled up 3 3/8 to 96 1/2 while Lycos Inc. (LCOS) and At Home Corp. (ATHM) picked up 7 1/16 and 3 15/16 a share, respectively. Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) fell 1 13/16 to 47 7/16, however, as investors are still waiting to see if Walt Disney Co. (DIS) is really serious about increasing its stake in the portal.

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) moved up another 1 15/16 to 34 7/8. Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) picked up 1 7/8 to 82 7/8 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) closed up 5/8 to 62 11/16.

Even though it warned of more sales and earnings shortfalls in its second quarter, Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) shares managed to add 5/16 to 22 11/16. Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) rose 11/16 to 36 1/2 and Gateway Inc. (GTW) moved up 1 5/8 to 67 1/16. Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) fell 1 9/16 to 46 3/8.

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) jumped 1 1/8 to 117 3/8 following an announcement it would buy TransMedia. 3Com Corp. (COMS) closed up 1 7/16 to 28 1/16 and Ascend Communications Inc. (ASND) added 7/16 to 101 1/8.

Western Digital Corp. (WDC) fell 3/8 to 6 1/2 after announcing that fourth quarter losses would be in the range of 90 cents a share to 98 cents a share.