Monday, May 3, 1999
Markets
The market just can't deny the investing public's insatiable appetite for
CNBC
millennial specials. It barely even tries anymore. Hello,
Dow
11K.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
closed up 222.79 to 11,011.83. Cyclicals boomed again, but so did almost everything else outside the technology sector. The rally's breadth -- including oil, transports, financials and drugs -- brought the
S&P 500
up 19.37 to 1354.55.
Technology stocks cut their losses late in the session to bring the
Nasdaq Composite Index
a relatively soft landing; the Nasdaq closed down 7.80 to 2535.05;
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
lost 23.29 to 632.97 in a broad selloff highlighted by loss leaders
Amazon.com
(AMZN) - Get Report
, down 21 1/16 to 150 15/16, and
Yahoo!
(YHOO)
, down 12 1/16 to 162 1/2. The small-cap
Russell 2000
gained 0.47 to 433.28.
Major European indices were mixed: Frankfurt's
Dax
closed modestly lower, while Paris'
CAC 40
finished in positive territory. In Asia, Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
added 3.87 to 13,337.07 overnight. Exchanges were closed in London and Japan.
For more markets action and news, click
here.
Companies
Data services firm
Ceridian
(CEN) - Get Report
is buying
ABR Information Services
(ABRX)
, which provides benefits administration, payroll and human-resource services, for $25.50 a share in cash, or about $750 million.
Shares of insurance holding company
Delphi Financial
(DFG)
are soaring after the company said it sold its
Unicover Managers
reinsurance unit to former Unicover shareholders. Delphi did not disclose the terms of the agreement, but said it expects to break even on Unicover, which it bought in November for $23 million. Delphi was lately up 9 1/8 to 40 1/4.
Milwaukee bank
Firstar
(FSR)
set plans Friday to buy
Mercantile Bancorp
(MTL) - Get Report
of St. Louis in a $9.9 billion stock transaction.
The fun starts tomorrow.
Goldman Sachs
said it priced 69 million shares at $53 each.
MediaOne's
(UMG)
board approved a $62.5 billion buyout offer from
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
and gave
Comcast
(CMCSK)
until Thursday to make a competing bid. Comcast is working with
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
and
America Online
(AOL)
to sweeten its original $52.53 billion offer.
Merck
(MCK) - Get Report
filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
a shelf registration for up to $1 billion in debt securities.
SBC Communications
(SBC)
and
Telmex
(TMX)
are buying Puerto Rico's
Cellular Communications
(CLRP)
for about $814 million in cash and long-term debt.
For more news on companies and stocks, click
here.
Tech
Dutch electronics firm
Philips Electronics
(PHG) - Get Report
is buying California microchip maker
VLSI Technology
(VLSI)
for $1.27 billion after agreeing to raise its offer by 24%, ending two months of negotiations.
RealNetworks
(RNWK) - Get Report
unveiled
RealJukebox
, a digital music platform that lets users download music from the Web in the
a2b
format developed by AT&T.
TheStreet.com
covered the launch in
a story this morning.
RSL Communications
(RSLC)
set plans to take Web telephony subsidiary
Delta Three
public. The deal is expected to happen sometime during the third quarter.
For more tech news and commentary, click
here.
General News
The
National Association of Purchasing Management
released its monthly
Purchasing Managers Index
, which unexpectedly fell to 52.8 in April, still signifying growth in the manufacturing sector but down from last month's 54.3 reading. The 30-year Treasury bond rallied on the news. (For more on the fixed-income market, see today's early
Bond Focus.)
NATO
war planes struck a major power grid in Belgrade today, blacking out the city. Alliance spokesman
Jamie Shea
said that Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic
should not expect any "reward" for this weekend's release of three captured U.S. soldiers.
The
Commerce Department
released figures showing personal income rising at a 0.4% clip in March, matching economists' estimates and down from last month's 0.5% increase. Consumption also increased 0.4% for the month, better than the forecasted 0.3% but down from the previous month's 0.7%.
International
German cement company
Heidelberger Zement
made a $2.58 billion offer to buy 73.4% of Swedish cement maker
Scancem
from Norway's
Aker RGI
and Sweden's
Skanska
.
Telecom Italia
(TI)
and
Deutsche Telekom
(DT) - Get Report
are talking with a third telecom company about joining their proposed combination, according to
The Wall Street Journal
, which cited a person close to the situation.
For more international news and commentary, click
here.
Elsewhere
Carolina Hurricanes
defenseman
Steve Chiasson
died early this morning when his pickup truck flipped on the way home from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Chiasson, a 13-year
NHL
veteran, was 32.
John Elway
, 38, yesterday announced his retirement from pro football, leaving
Denver Broncos
quarterback
Bubby Brister
to take over his primary duty of handing the ball off to
Terrell Davis
.
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