The Dow Jones Industrial Average was zeroing in again on the 10K mark Monday, boosted by some heavy-duty potential mergers and confidence that the Fed will leave interest rates alone when Greenspan & Co. gather on Tuesday.
Internet stocks, meanwhile, took their cue from Amazon.com, which won applause from investors with its decision to go head to head with eBay in the online auction game.
The Dow rose 144.58 points to 9966.82 in mid-afternoon trading, and the Wired Index was 14.05 higher at 630.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 50.45 to 2469.62, and the S&P 500 was up 20.70 at 1303.50.
Share prices surged from the outset on word that BP Amoco (BPA) is in talks to purchase Atlantic Richfield (ARC) for about US$25 billion. The deal, if it goes through, would give the merged company about the same oil-production capacity as a combined Exxon and Mobil. BP advanced $3.38 to $103.81, and Arco was up 11 percent at $72.25.
Another marriage-in-the-works involves CBS (CBS) negotiating a buyout of King World Productions (KWP), the force behind such highbrow fare as Jeopardy. The deal could be worth as much as $3 billion. CBS rose 44 cents to $40.38, and King World was 81 cents higher at $30.75.
Amazon.com (AMZN) gained $9.94 to $149 on news that it will get into the auction business in a big way. The Wall Street Journal quoted CEO Jeff Bezos as saying in an as-yet unreleased letter that the auction service will allow users to "buy and sell virtually anything at Amazon.com -- rare books and signed first editions, rare music, vintage toys, antiques, sports memorabilia, and collectibles of all kinds."
In other words, it'll do exactly what eBay and a growing army of other auction sites do. The only difference, and it's a significant one, is that the service will be offered to an established customer base already running into the millions.
"How much auction can we stand?" wondered Tim Klein, an analyst with US Bancorp Piper Jaffray. "Everyone's doing it."
Still, he observed that an online auction capability is becoming a necessary "commerce utility" for high-traffic Web sites, just like chat and email offerings. "People are coming to expect it," Klein said.
According to the Journal, Amazon already has signed up at least 117 companies that will flog goodies to bidders, and no doubt plenty more are in the wings. All this, needless to say, was a poke in the ribs for eBay (EBAY), which fell $4.50 to $150.
More action on the IPO front: An outfit called Critical Path (CPTH), which provides email services for businesses, surged 154 percent to $61 on its first day of trading. The company debuted with 4.5 million shares initially priced at $24 a pop.
Anyone notice that the starting price for Internet stocks has just about doubled in recent months? It's nice at least that the companies themselves, and not the day traders, are getting a bigger piece of the pie. Net IPOs are way too risky for the average individual investor, in this column's humble opinion, but if anyone cashes in, it should be the people behind the enterprise, and not a bunch of hyperactive guys sitting in a darkened room throwing shares back and forth.
Speaking of which, ZiaSun Technologies (ZSUN) climbed 52 percent to $17.50 after issuing a press release declaring it plans "to provide an email service free to every Web site on the Internet," based on its PINmail system. ZiaSun, when not planning global conquest, runs a holding company for various Net-based firms.
