Midday Markets: Techs inch up

Techs edged up on news amid slow Monday markets. The Nasdaq Composite Index inched up 27.48 to 2,590.92, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 62.37 to 10,793.19.

Inter@ctive Week's @Net Index rose 6.9 to 303.

Stocks scheduled to report earnings after the bell were up. Micron Electronics (Nasdaq: MUEI), expecting a profit of 6 cents a share, rose 22/32 to 10 13/32. Cabletron Inc. (NYSE: CS), up 11/16 to14 5/8, and Manugistics (Nasdaq: MANU), up 3/16 to 12 3/4, are also scheduled to report.

Also in the news, America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) added 2 5/8 to 114 5/8 a share, as it reported it may offer free Internet access in Britain. ExciteAtHome (Nasdaq: ATHM) rose 4 to 56 7/16 on announcements of new e-mail and chat services.

Brooktrout (Nasdaq: BRKT) leapt 2 5/16 to 17 1/8 on news its Interspeed unit had filed for an IPO.

Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:PTEC) rose 3 13/16 to 15 1/2 on news of a partnership with Softbank holdings and the launch of ebetween, which will allow Internet companies to use its software.

Shares of Open Market Inc. (Nasdaq: OMKT) jumped 1 1/4 to 13 5/8 after an upgrade.

Global Telesystems (Nasdaq: GTSG), shed 2 1/2 to 85 3/8 on new its board approved a 2-for-1 stock split. MCI Worldcom (Nasdaq: WCOM) was up 3/8 to 95 5/8.

Multex.com (Nasdaq: MLTX), gained 1 15/16 to 30 9/16 on reports that it will buy financial content provider Market Guide Inc. (Nasdaq: MARG), which dipped 1 1/8 to 22 3/4.

Among Internet movers, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), shot up 8 3/8 to 152 13/16 after announcing it would team with stock tracker Instinet to offer electronic trading services. Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) was up 3 7/16 to 114 3/4. CMGI Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI) gained 1 7/16 to 100 15/16. Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq: LCOS) was up 8 7/8 to 96 5/8 and Mindspring (Nasdaq: MSPG) rose 1 9/16 to 68 5/16. Infoseek Corp. (Nasdaq: SEEK) sunk 1/16 to 48 3/4.

Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) led PC-related issues, up 1 11/64 to 37 7/8. Chairman and CEO Michael Dell told Barron's magazine that the PC, rather than Web-enabled TVs, remains the preferred way to get information.

Gateway Inc. (NYSE: GTW) added 5/16 to 65 3/8, Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) skipped 3/8 to 22 1/8, and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) jumped 2 3/4 to 123 1/2. Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), unaffected by the optimism, sunk 13/16 to 46 5/16.

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) leapt 4 1/2 to 137 1/4 following the company's announcement of plans to buy Israeli chipmaker Libit Signal Processing for $329 million. Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) added 1 3/8 to 86 3/8 and Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) tacked on 1 1/2 to 56 7/16. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) gained 5/8 to 19 3/8.

3Com Corp. (Nasdaq: COMS) jumped up 1 3/8 to 30. Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) grew 3 1/8 to122 1/2, and Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU) added 11/16 to 63 5/8.

Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) lost 3/16 to 34 7/8, AT&T Corp. (NYSE: T) rose 13/16 to56 7/16, and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) grew 2 1/16 to 66 1/8.