Profit-Taking the Order of the Day as Nasdaq Slumps

The pending release of the first-quarter Employment Cost Index and GDP numbers add some jitters.

Author:
David Shabelman
Publish date:
Apr 26, 2000 5:53 PM EDT

The pending release of the first-quarter Employment Cost Index and GDP numbers add some jitters.

The week is eerily shaping up like last week, when technology stocks fell apart late in the week after a midweek rally.

The

Nasdaq

ended down 81.14, or 2.2%, at 3630.09, after trading as high as 3777.08. Traders may have been looking to take profits ahead of two important economic reports due Thursday: the first-quarter

Employment Cost Index

and

Gross Domestic Product

. Both will be

released ahead of the stock market opening so market direction likely will be determined before the bell rings.

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index finished down 14.67, or 1.8%, at 803.89, after trading as high as 852.70.

Last week, the Nasdaq dropped to around 3227 on Monday; it climbed as high as 3851 on Wednesday before ending the short week at 3643.

Earnings numbers moved Internet stocks early in the day, but the sector got caught up in the broad-based selling that hit the market late.

Among the day's big movers,

eBay

(EBAY) - Get Free Report

finished down 4 5/16, or 2.8%, at 149 1/4 after trading as high as 161 5/16. The online auctioneer fell victim to profit-taking despite

reporting decent numbers and announcing a 2-for-1 stock split. Our own

Adam Lashinsky

found eBay's conference call to be boring, but

wrote that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

drkoop.com

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closed up 1 1/4, or 53%, at 3 19/32 after announcing yesterday that it was delaying its earnings report and that results would be worse than expectations. Investors may have felt the worst was over for the company and were somehow impressed that

America Online

(AOL)

was taking a 10% stake in the company, though that stake was in lieu of $64 million still owed to AOL by drkoop. But other investors weren't impressed, selling drkoop after it traded as high as 5 3/8.

There were a couple of other earnings-related movers.

F5 Networks

(FFIV) - Get Free Report

closed down 14 37/64, or 25%, at 44 1/8 after matching Street estimates with an 18-cent profit for its second quarter. Also,

Marimba.com

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closed down 11 1/4, or 38%, at 18 5/8 despite beating quarterly estimates by a penny. Marimba reported a 1-cent loss.

Credit Suisse First Boston

raised revenue estimates on the company, a provider of Internet-based, software-management solutions, but cut its price target on the stock to 41, from 63. Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Wendell Laidley said the resignation of Marimba CFO Fred Gerson (effective October 2000) came as a surprise, and on the heels of a number of resignations by senior executives.

Business-to-business plays, which have rallied over the past two days, stumbled today.

724 Solutions

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closed down 5 5/8, or 11%, at 46 3/4 despite beating earnings expectations. It appeared to have suffered from profit-taking after running up into its numbers. Also,

E.piphany

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closed down 4 7/8, or 6.6%, at 69 1/8;

Kana Communications

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finished down 4 1/16, or 10%, at 34 15/16; and

i2 Technologies

(ITWO)

finished off 15 1/2, or 12%, at 114 1/2. Finally,

Amazon.com

(AMZN) - Get Free Report

closed up 1 1/16, or 2%, at 53 1/2, ahead of its earnings report after the close. Amazon reported a loss of 35 cents a share, better than the 36-cent