Technology leads Wall Street higher again

Posted 12:58PM on Friday 4th January 2002 ( 23 years ago )

NEW YORK - Stocks were mixed Friday, giving up some early gains as investors decided to collect profits from this week's high-tech rally. Stocks soared in the early going despite the worst monthly unemployment report in more than six years. But technology stocks, which have led the market this week, lost ground as investors cashed in. In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 39.23, or 0.4 percent, at 10,211.37, but was 70 points lower than its high for the session. The gains extend a two-day winning streak, the Dow's best showing since late August. But broader indicators were lower. The technology-focused Nasdaq composite index was down 7.55, or 0.4 percent, at 2,036.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 0.1 to 1,165.14. The market's recent runup "is certainly not collapsing," said Alfred E. Goldman, chief market strategist for A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. "My only conclusion is that the internal dynamics are really stretched out." Stocks rose even as the Labor Department reported the nation's unemployment rate increased to 5.8 percent in December as businesses trimmed 124,000 jobs. Still, the losses were less severe than in recent months. Job losses had averaged about 400,000 a month in October and November. Wall Street had little negative reaction to the news, however, because many had been expecting December to be weak. Instead, investors appeared to focus on the future -- and their hopes that a recovery was becoming more certain. Intel advanced 17 cents to $35.69, benefitting for a second straight session from a J.P. Morgan analyst's bullish comments that the company's business might soon improve. Intel competitor Advanced Micro Devices, which rose 18 percent Thursday in reaction to that assessment, was up 3 cents at $19.40. Pharmaceutical and consumer goods companies didn't fare as well, falling back again as investors refocused on technology. Merck dropped 74 cents to $58.29. Shares in DaimlerChrysler rose after the automaker said its 2001 operating profit had met the lower end of its expectations. The shares were up 91 cents to $45.31. Shares in Willamette Industries fell after the company's board rejected Weyerhaeuser Co.'s $6.1 billion takeover bid as inadequate, cutting off discussion of a buyout. Willamette stock fell $5.86 to $44.10. Shares in Weyerhaeuser rose $1.21 cents to $55.20. The Russell 2000 index slipped 0.56 to 494.95. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 689.33 million shares, up from 600.18 million shares at the same point in the previous session. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 3.1 percent. In afternoon trading, Germany's DAX index was up 0.3 percent, Britain's FT-SE 100 was up 0.1 percent, and France's CAC-40 was essentially unchanged.

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