Net Sector Tumbles Along With Market
Internet stocks got a reprieve Wednesday when the rest of the market was hit by dollar weakness. No such luck today.
Net stocks have fallen along with the broader market as a wider-than-expected trade report punished the
dollar, which then hurt Treasuries, subsequently dragging down stocks.
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
index was down 5.42, or 1.0%, at 561.01, but it had already recovered from a low of 556.18 as some traders took advantage of the early dip to buy.
Internet bellwethers have been among the best performers over the past week but were getting hurt early today.
Amazon.com
(AMZN) - Get Report
was down 3, or 3%, at 110 1/8;
Yahoo!
(YHOO)
was down 3 1/16, or 2%, at 142;
eBay
(EBAY) - Get Report
was down 5, or 4%, at 120 15/16; and
America Online
(AOL)
was off 1 7/8, or 2%, at 97 5/16. Also,
priceline.com
(PCLN)
, which was prominently featured in The TaskMaster's
column Wednesday, was down 1 1/4, or 2%, at 69 1/2.
Financial stocks also were under attack because of fear of rising interest rates. Focus also was shifting to next week's
Federal Reserve
meeting, where policymakers are widely expected to raise rates by 25 basis points. Online brokerages continued to weaken amid concerns that trading volumes will taper off.
Ameritrade
(AMTD) - Get Report
was among the weaker performers, down 1 5/16, or 5%, at 22 1/2.
E*Trade
(EGRP)
was down 1 5/16, or 4%, at 26 3/4.
Onsale
(ONSL)
was up 1 5/8, or 10%, at 17 7/8. The company, which sells computer equipment online and features an online auction site, said it expects revenue growth to climb 8% to 12% for its third quarter compared with its second quarter and 15% to 20% in the fourth quarter vs. the third quarter. Gross margins are forecasted at 4% to 5% for the third quarter and 4% to 6% for the fourth quarter.
Egghead.com
(EGGS)
, which
agreed to a $400 million merger with Onsale in July, was up 7/8, or 11%, at 8 5/8.