Nope. The Dow Jones Industrial Average made a good go of it Monday, but never quite got beyond spitting distance of the much-ballyhooed 10,000 mark.
The Dow closed 82.42 points higher at a record 9958.77 after earlier peaking at 9970.15. The market was boosted by a pair of big-money acquisitions -- Fleet Financial Group buying BankBoston for US$16 billion, creating the nation's eighth-largest bank, and DuPont shelling out $7.7 billion for the 80 percent of Pioneer Hi-Bred International it doesn't already own.
"It's merger Monday," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. "Everything is positive and robust."
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 49.91 points to 2431.44, and the S&P 500 was 12.67 higher at a record 1307.26.
Hogan said Wall Street finally looks ready to make a concerted push higher because tech stocks are once again joining in the fun. "They've been out of the game for about three weeks," he observed. "Now there's basically positive news in technology, and it's a buyer's market."
Topping that positive news was America Online (AOL) clearing the final regulatory hurdle in its almost $9 billion takeover of Netscape Communications (NSCP). Netscape shareholders now are slated to vote on the acquisition on Wednesday, and it should be a done deal not long after. AOL advanced $4.88 to $101, and Netscape was up $6.13 at $91.
After Netscape becomes the West Coast branch of the world's fattest online service, it will be replaced on the Nasdaq 100 index by venture-fund firm CMGI (CMGI), which climbed 17 percent to $192.63. Separately, the Boston Globe reported that CMGI has rallied enough support from other Lycos shareholders to block the portal's tie-up with USA Networks. CMGI, Lycos' biggest investor, has been loudly complaining about the terms of the proposed deal.
CMGI Managing Director Peter Mills got traders talking with word that new suitors for the portal already are expressing interest in an alternative arrangement. Lycos (LCOS), soon-to-be parent of Wired News, advanced $7.13 to $105.75, and USA Networks (USAI) was up 6 cents at $38.
USA's head honcho, Barry Diller, must have been watching enviously as Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures agreed to fork over as much as $750 million for a controlling stake in Web-site operator Go2Net (GNET). Allen now will be able to link his cable-TV holdings with Go2Net's online resources, creating exactly the sort of synergy Diller had planned for his company and Lycos. Go2Net surged 30 percent to $113.38.
And an outfit called eFax.com (EFAX) -- shrewdly utilizing both the "e" and a dot com -- vaulted 70 percent to $21.63 after cutting a marketing accord with online community builder Xoom.com. EFax produces technology to convert faxes to email.
Charles Schwab (SCH) rose $3.94 to $87.94 as the discount broker said it expects to see first-quarter profit of as much as 34 cents a share, well ahead of the anticipated 26 cents. Separately, Schwab announced a new service through which customers can be alerted to trading opportunities via email.
In tech, a heavyweight alliance was unveiled among telecom-gear maker Nortel Networks, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel. The pact involves Nortel and HP supplying the hardware, and Microsoft and Intel the software and chips, for more efficient handling of voice, data, and video traffic on corporate networks.
Microsoft (MSFT) gained $5.69 to $165.88, and HP (HWP) was up $2.50 at $71.50. Canada's Nortel (NT) rose $1.38 to $60.19, while Intel (INTC) was the odd man out, slipping 38 cents to $117.88.
And look here: It's NBC and Sony (SNE) holding a little powwow about a possible partnership. Details of the talks were sketchy, but The New Yorker -- now there's a source we don't cite very often here -- is reporting that it would involve the whole gamut of related properties, from movies to music to TV. Sony's shares jumped $3.94 to $100.75.
Qwest Communications International (QWST) advanced $4.94 to a record $74.56 as Morgan Stanley Dean Witter upgraded the firm's stock to "strong buy" from "outperform." Analyst Peter Kennedy said the No. 4 US long-distance phone company is "one of the best-positioned, best-managed carriers, with significant market momentum."
Lastly, it's Thorn Apple Valley (TAVI) climbing 64 percent to $2.88 after securing a $7 million credit line to keep itself afloat while trying to reorganize. The maker of meat products is reeling from having had to recall 30 million pounds of hot dogs in January -- the biggest such recall ever -- because of possible contamination by listeria bacteria, which can kill people.
Thorn Apple Valley filed for bankruptcy protection last week.
