Net Stocks Grudgingly Give Back Gains as Bulls, Bears Eye Each Other

It appears the two camps will plod along until the employment numbers are released Friday.

Author:: David Shabelman
Publish date:: May 31, 2000 5:25 PM EDT

Bulls and bears could both claim victory today, though only the moral kind. Technology stocks ended weaker, failing to follow through on yesterday's gains, with much of the losses coming in the final hour of trading.

The

Nasdaq

ended the day down 58.57, or 1.7%, at 3400.91, about 100 points from the session high of 3501.51.

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index finished down 24.73, or 3%, at 791.63, after trading as high as 833.26.

Bulls were hoping that yesterday's rally was strong enough to indicate that the worst was over. Bears could say that the rebound was little more than a strong bounce from oversold conditions, that the Nasdaq remains in a bear market, and it's only a matter of time before the thing breaks down again. The argument likely won't be settled until Friday, when the employment report will be released, if then.

Traditional Internet plays were mostly weaker and appeared to hold back much of the sector, though most just gave back some or all of their gains from yesterday.

Amazon.com

(AMZN) - Get Report

finished down 3 7/16, or 6.6%, at 48 5/16 after gaining more than 5 points yesterday;

Lycos

(LCOS)

dropped 3 1/2, or 5.5%, to 60 1/2; and

eBay

(EBAY) - Get Report

dropped 4 15/32, or 6.7%, to 62 9/16 after adding 5 points yesterday.

Business-to-business plays had a rough go as well, though many rallied hard on Tuesday.

Akamai

(AKAM) - Get Report