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Hat trick for techs
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July 2, 1999: 4:34 p.m. ET
Technology-laden Nasdaq breaks record for the third day in a row
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The Nasdaq picked up a hat trick Friday, breaking into record territory for the third day in a row, powered by investor optimism about earnings.
The Nasdaq finished Friday up 34.83 to 2741.01, led again by Internet stocks although volume was light as traders started relaxing for the Fourth of July holiday. Trading will resume on the Nasdaq on Tuesday.
Technology stocks were higher on anticipation of good earnings, according to Tim Grazioso, stock market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.
"Strength has been growing ever since the Federal Reserve shifted to a neutral bias," said Grazioso.
"That shift keeps money going into the stock market and the people are buying the proven winners, the ones with earnings potential, the market leaders which, right now, are technology."
No tech sector was hotter Friday than Internets. Free Web hosting service Xoom.com (XMCM) had a particularly strong showing, rising 7-3/8 to 60.
America Online (AOL) continued its string of gains, up 2-7/8 to 115. Internet service providers surging ahead included Earthlink (ELNK), up 4 to 67, MindSpring (MSPG), up 2-3/8 to 48-5/8 and PSINet (PSIX) rose 2-5/16 to 48-13/16. Cable-based Internet provider @Home Network (ATHM) was unchanged.
The recently battered online brokerage area got some much-needed relief Friday. Web brokerage leader Charles Schwab (SCH) managed to turn things around a little, gaining 3/8 to 52. Ameritrade's (AMTD) rally was much better. Its stock rose 4-3/4 to 108-5/8 while E*Trade (EGRP) edged up 1/4 to 39-15/16.
Online auction companies were mixed, as eBay (EBAY) fell 6-1/32 to 143-5/8 but Ubid (UBID) jumped 2-5/16 to 31-15/16. Amazon.com (AMZN), which operates auctions along with its core book business, rose 1-11/16 to 124-1/16.
In the widely held technology stocks, networking company Cisco Systems (CSCO) jumped 2-11/16 to 67-1/16, Lucent Technologies (LU) was up 2-9/16 to 70-5/8 and IBM (IBM) gained 1-1/4 to 132-1/4.
Little celebration at Yahoo!
Yahoo! (YHOO) shares were under pressure for most of the day Friday as GeoCities members continued to launch protests against the company's terms of service policy. But a quick rally near the end of the day brought it up 7/8 to 178-1/8.
Some GeoCities members, now in the Yahoo! fold due to an acquisition, have voiced concerns that Yahoo! rules could allow the Web portal to have unrestricted access to member content, a charge Yahoo! denies. Competing portal Lycos shed 2-9/16 to 99-13/16.
Shares of RealNetworks (RNWK) got really popular Friday after a purported rival, Microsoft, agreed to use RealNetworks' software in its WebTV offerings.
Previously, Microsoft (MSFT) had developed its own media player in an effort to compete with RealNetworks' offerings. But after the two companies had made up, RealNetworks stock leapt 12-11/16 to 89-15/16 while Microsoft rose 13/16 to 92.
Electronic trading system OptiMark Technologies said Friday it will get a $100 million investment from Japanese software company Softbank.
While OptiMark is privately held, it counts among its investors some marquee names, including Goldman Sachs (GS), up 1/8 to 70-15/16, and Merrill Lynch (MER), up 13/16 to 79-15/16.
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