Rally in Tech Issues Boosts Stocks
Technology stocks were surging early on after sitting out
yesterday's rally for the most part, as Internet stocks were flying again.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
was up 32 to 10,372. The
S&P 500
was up 3 to 1361. The
Nasdaq Composite Index
was up 25 to 2624. The
Russell 2000
was up 5 to 418.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was up 26 to 817.
TheStreet.com E-Commerce Index
was up 8 to 144.
A host of earnings results were released this morning, as companies on balance reported in-line or better-than-expected numbers.
The 30-year Treasury bond was down 3/32 to 96 31/32, yielding 5.46%.
A couple of key economic reports were released this morning. The Labor Department reported the overall
Consumer Price Index
rose 0.2% in March, while excluding food and energy prices, it rose 0.1%, less than expected by the
Reuters
consensus forecast of economists.
Meanwhile, the
Commerce Department
reported
retail sales
in March rose 0.2%, while excluding autos, sales rose 0.5%.
On the heels of strong earnings reports from
Merrill Lynch
(MER)
and
PaineWebber
(PWJ)
boosted the brokerage sector. The
American Stock Exchange Broker/Dealer Index
was up 8%.
Most Up at Open -- NYSE
National Discount Brokers (NDB) , up 7 5/16 to 62 5/8
.
Most Up at Open -- Nasdaq
Net.B@nk (NTBK) , up 26 1/2 to 185
: The company set a 3-for-1 stock split.
Most Down at Open -- NYSE
General Electric (GE) - Get Report, down 2 1/2 to 114
.
Most Down at Open -- Nasdaq
SkyMall (SKYM) , down 6 3/8 to 16 3/4
: The company yesterday said it expects to post revenues of $13 million in the first quarter, down from the $13.2 million in the year-ago period and it expects to post a loss of between $1.00 to $1.20 a share in 1999.
