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Dow off 40.6
Associated PressNEW YORK - Technology stocks reclaimed their leadership of the stock market today, driving the Nasdaq composite index higher as investors bought shares of chip makers, Internet companies and beaten-down biotech firms.
The tech-dominated Nasdaq rose 153.07, or 3.25 percent, to close at 4,864.75. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 40.64 at 10,866.70, having recovered from a loss of as much as 118 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 closed up 6.77 to a record 1,500.64.
Advancers beat decliners by a 5-to-4 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,630 up, 1,314 down and 502 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 1.075 billion shares vs. 1.055 billion yesterday. The NYSE composite index rose 0.45 to 643.24; the American Stock Exchange composite gained 26.41, or 2.63 percent, to 1,030.24; and the Russell 2000 index advanced 18.40 points, or 3.33 percent, to 571.19. The yield on the Treasury's 30-year bond remained at 5.97 percent, a seven-month low.
Since the Nasdaq hit its last record on March 10, it has fallen 4 percent while the Dow Jones industrials have advanced more than 9 percent. The Nasdaq tumbled as investors eager to take profits from its run channeled money into the blue-chip Dow. But robust performances by tech shares yesterday and today convinced analysts that investors aren't quite ready to give up the promise of high-growth stocks for the stability of blue chips.
Rambus rocketed nearly $84 to $350.37 after Morgan Stanley Dean Witter said its shares could reach $500. An analyst with the firm said the company could be earning $7 to $10 a share by 2003.