After struggling throughout the day to find a sense of direction, Wall Street finally decided to get back with the program and push share prices higher Monday. The last-minute rally came as investors finally had enough of being nervous about overseas uncertainties and decided instead to resume their buying spree.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 82.65 points to close at 9203.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 30.23 to 2369.11, and the S&P 500 was up 8.76 at 1233.95.
While the current earnings season has yet to produce any serious bumps and bruises, traders were finding their anxiety level heightened for much of the day by the sight of slow-to-act Brazil forming bucket brigades to put out its economic brush fire. At the same time, speculation continues that China is on the verge of devaluing its currency, which could have a severe impact on efforts to stabilize Asia's finances.
"The assumption is that the Brazilian problem will spill over to other Latin American countries," said Alexander Paris Sr., an analyst with Barrington Research. "That would hurt exports of US companies."
As for China, he observed, "Asia has generally been in a recovery mode." A devaluation of the yuan "would really sink the region again."
Still, such a prospect has had a relatively limited impact on US stocks. Investors seem to have learned from last year's unwarranted fears of looming global recession that even the scariest collapse abroad doesn't necessarily mean Wall Street's demise is imminent.
This small comfort finally allowed traders to instead focus on the here and now -- such as AT&T (T) rising US$1.50 to $89.75 as it reported a 58-percent hike in quarterly profit to $1.12 a diluted share, in line with expectations. Revenues were up just 4.8 percent, prompting many investors to wonder if the telco's stock isn't a tad pricey for such modest growth.
Meanwhile, Citigroup (C) advanced $1.56 to $53.19 after posting fourth-quarter income of 60 cents a share, excluding one-time charges. This was 4 cents ahead of earlier estimates. And American Express (AXP) was up $3 at $101.50 after meeting expectations with profit of $1.16 a share.
Microsoft (MSFT) muscled its way $5.63 higher to $161.88 as it announced a two-for-one stock split for shareholders of record as of 12 March. By the end of last month, the software giant had about 2.5 billion common shares outstanding. The split will double that number.
Online broker Ameritrade (AMTD) was also doing some stock splitting, revealing its own two-for-one divvy following a big run-up in the company's share price. Ameritrade, which last week reported better-than-expected earnings of 13 cents a share, gained $5.63 to $55.63.
Broadcast.com (BCST) surged 11 percent to $151.88 after unveiling a joint venture with Softbank to bring the online broadcasting service to Japan. Also from abroad, Yahoo (YHOO) was named by a market researcher as the top Internet portal in Britain, with 61 percent of Web surfers visiting the site. Yahoo was up $26 at $312.
America Online (AOL) rose $4.94 to $145.38 following a report in the Wall Street Journal that Netscape Communications co-founder Marc Andreesen will become chief technology officer at the world's biggest online service after the merger of the two companies is completed. Such a development would help to allay fears among some Netscape stalwarts that the company had sold its soul for a $4.2 billion payday.
Online auctioneer eBay (EBAY) climbed $20.75 to $217.50 after cutting a marketing accord with Compaq. This helped to distract attention from a story in the New York Post that the company is being investigated for alleged consumer fraud by New York City officials. It's possible that certain one-of-a-kind sports memorabilia were sold to more than one buyer, the Post said.
Oops.
Web-design software developer Allaire (ALLR) jumped another 12 percent to $49 on its second day of trading. The stock debuted Friday and more than doubled in value over the course of that first session.
People are viewing the likes of Net-related software and hardware makers as a "safe" way to participate in the Internet's growth. This, of course, is like investing in tire manufacturers as a "safe" way to play the auto industry. At the end of the day, all that matters is how many cars get sold.
Barrington's Paris sees just about the entire .com crowd as being dangerously overvalued. "To get back to a sensible level, they'll have to come down about 90 percent," he said. "It's all way out of whack."
In tech, Intel (INTC) advanced $1.75 to $130.63 despite news that rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was stealing away business with a line of cheaper products. AMD, which saw its market share more than double to 15.5 percent in the latest quarter, was 13 cents lower at $21.44. Go figure.
Qwest Communications International (QWST) shed $1.44 to $58.69 even as it said it will use its fast-growing network of fiber-optic cables to launch a Net-accesss service, dubbed Q.home. The move comes as the company evolves from providing high-speed bandwidth for other systems to offering its own services to customers. Q.home will be Qwest's first foray into the consumer market.
Lastly, a tip of the beret to those randy Republicans, spicing up the president's impeachment trial by dragging everyone's favorite intern back to center stage. As Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said, "We're just trying to get to the truth."
Cigars all around, boys.
