Market Movers: Nasdaq Stages a Late Rally
Mar 01 2001
After lazing around like housecats for most of Thursday's session, the March lions finally roared in the final two hours of trading, lifting the Nasdaq to a gain of 1.47 percent, or 31.54, to 2183.37. The Nasdaq bottomed at 2071.03 just after 2 p.m. EST and then staged a stunning recovery.
The rise coincided with the resumption of trading in Applied Micro Circuits , which had been halted earlier in the session after the communication chip company's CEO said on CNBC that the company was going to lower revenue guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter.
While that doesn't sound like good news, investors nonetheless drove the stock higher. Applied Micro gained $3.50, or 13.1 percent, to $30.25, after trading as low as $22.94.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day well off its lows but still down .39 percent, or 40.58, to 10454.70. The S&P 500 gained .11 percent, or 1.4, at 1241.34. The Industry Standard 100 came off its historical low of 432.76 to close up a fraction of a percent at 460.22.
Broadcom , which was downgraded by Merrill Lynch this morning, fell $1.31, or 2.66 percent, to $47.94, after trading as low as $40.77. 3Com , which warned on Wednesday that revenues would be down severely for the third quarter, lost $1.63, or 17.8 percent, to $7.50. PMC-Sierra gained $5.63, or 16.8 percent, to $39.13. Ciena jumped $6.81, or 10.1 percent, to $74. Qualcomm rallied $6.69, or 12.2 percent, to $61.50. JDS Uniphase advanced $2.50, or 9.35 percent, to $29.25.
Among software stocks, Oracle rose 11.68 percent, or $2.22, to $21.22, while Siebel rose 16.5 percent, or $6.31, to $44.56.
IBM gained $6.15, or 6.16 percent, to $106.05, after the company made positive comments on the current quarter. Corning, which says it is cutting 825 positions in its photonics division, gained $3.21, or 11.9 percent, to $30.25.
"People think the market is down enough to stick their foot out and test the waters," says Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James.