Moving Into New Feeding Grounds

The New Face of Wall Street

SAN FRANCISCO -- If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the charts of stocks such as Metrocall and Cytogen say volumes about what's happening on Wall Street these days.

I selected Metrocall (MCLL Quote) and Cytogen (CYTO Quote) for charting privileges for a myriad reasons, but mainly because theirs are among the most dramatic. (FYI, Metrocall fell 6% to 9 11/16 today while Cytogen jumped 14% to 13 7/16.) Also, they are representative of the two sectors that have enjoyed the most stunning gains, namely technology, especially wireless, and biotech.

But rest assured, many names several notches below the "household" variety have enjoyed similar ascents thus far in 2000 as the S&P 500 and market breadth have sagged. Others include SmartServe Online (SSOL Quote), Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA Quote), Neoware Systems (NWRE Quote), and Atlantic Pharmaceutical (ATLC Quote). ...