Mixed Bag for Net Issues as Comp Has a Nice Day
In something of an ironic twist, a weak
retail sales report
encouraged investors to buy stocks.
The
Nasdaq
closed up 114.85, or 3.4%, at 3499.58, though Internet stocks were mixed.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index finished up 26.38, or 3.3%, at 834.05. Internet stocks have had a tendency to lag the rest of tech, having been hit harder in the recent selloff.
Gains followed a decline in April
retail sales, which gave hope that the Fed may not need to be as aggressive raising rates as feared. The market faces another key piece of data tomorrow with the
Producer Price Index
report. Shorts may have been looking to cover in advance of that report, should it also be benign.
The close on the highs was positive from a technical perspective, meeting the criteria set forth in an earlier
story, while volume of around 1.3 billion shares also was decent and suggested further gains.
Among the day's winners,
eBay
(EBAY) - Get Report
closed up 6 3/4, or 6%, at 117 3/4;
Yahoo!
(YHOO)
finished up 6 27/64, or 5.4%, at 125 5/16;
Lycos
(LCOS)
ended up 8 5/8, or 19%, at 54;
Phone.com
(PHCM)
added 7 13/16, or 13%, to 69 1/16; while
Retek
(RETK)
added 4 1/16, or 23%, to 21 9/16.
But some other high-profile names did not fare so well.
E.piphany
(EPNY)
dropped 5 11/16, or 7%, to 72 9/16;
Juniper Networks
(JNPR) - Get Report
slid 8 3/8, or 5.4%, to 148;
Foundry Networks
(FDRY)
fell 6 1/16, or 8%, to 66 3/4; and
Register.com
(RCOM)
ended down 5 1/2, or 11%, at 45.
E-Loan
(EELN)
closed up 1/8, or 2.2%, at 5 15/16 despite a negative research report from
Salomon Smith Barney
. Salomon reduced revenue forecasts going out for the online mortgage seller. Salomon dropped revenue estimates for 2000 to $41 million from $43 million, though it also dropped estimates on the company's loss for the year to 94 cents from $1.01. Salomon maintained its neutral rating on the stock, but lowered its price target to 8 from 20.
Salomon analyst Matthew Vetto wrote that the revenue forecast resulted from lower expected mortgage originations, due to the rising rate environment, and a "tough competitive environment." The improvement in the net-loss-per-share estimate resulted from higher share count following E-Loan's recently announced capital infusion. Salomon has not done underwriting for E-Loan.
