NEW YORK >> Tech stocks rose moderately today on a semiconductor sector upgrade by Goldman Sachs that helped snap a six-day losing streak for the Nasdaq composite index, but provided little help to blue chips. Ambivalent stock
market ends mixed38 percent jump in Cheap Tickets
stock boosts NasdaqStar-Bulletin news services
Much of the buying was halfhearted, though, with the tech advances only solidifying late in what otherwise was choppy trading. Analysts said investors are afraid to make any big stock commitments when the timing of a business recovery is so uncertain.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq closed up 25.78 to 1,982.25, its first gain since Aug. 2.
The Dow Jones industrial average was virtually unchanged, falling 0.34 to 10,415.91, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.12 to 1,191.28.
Advancing issues led decliners 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,662 rising, 1,452 falling and 192 unchanged. Volume came to 980 million shares.
The Russell 2000 index rose 2.09 to 477.61. The NYSE composite index fell 0.31 to 608.03. The American Stock Exchange Composite Index rose 0.87 to 879.28.
The price of the 10-year Treasury bond rose 2.32 to 100 8/32, while its yield fell 1 basis point to 4.968. The price of the 30-year note fell 1/32 to 98 3/32, while its yield was unchanged.
Shares of Honolulu-based Cheap Tickets surged $4.48, or almost 38 percent, to $16.33 on the Nasdaq shortly after midday, following the announcement that Cendant Corp. will buy the company.
Cendant, a major hotel and car-rental operator, said today it is paying $425 million cash for the discount air ticket seller, turning Cendant into the No. 3 online travel provider.
Signaling investor expectations that the deal would be approved, Cendant gained 42 cents to $19.62 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Cendant's offer, worth $16.50 per Cheap Tickets' share, represents a premium of 39 percent over the stock's closing price of $11.85 on Nasdaq Friday.
Dow component and tech bellwether Intel rose 61 cents to $30.56 after Goldman Sachs said that semiconductor stocks as a group appear headed higher. But Wall Street's enthusiasm was limited, resulting in mixed results in the broader sector. Cisco Systems fell 12 cents to $18.21, while Ciena rose 97 cents to $30.99, despite a UBS Warburg downgrade of its earnings prospects.
Financial and retail stocks also struggled, including Citigroup, which slipped 51 cents to $49.13, and Wal-Mart, which lost $1.40 to $52.20 on anxiety about second-quarter results due out tomorrow.
But pharmaceutical stocks fared better. Dow component Johnson & Johnson rose 68 cents to $55.70.
The unfocused trading was the latest reminder of how ambivalent investors have become.