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October 21, 2000 

NEW YORK (AP) — Stock prices rose for a second straight day Friday as bargain-hunting investors extended a broad rally in technology stocks. In midafternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 64.74 at 10,207.72, having moved into positive territory midway through the session. Broader indicators were higher. The Nasdaq composite index rose 103.44 to 3,522.04. The Standard and Poor's 500 index was up 16.83 at 1,405.59.

Analysts said the early selloff was typical for the session immediately following a strong move upward. ``This is just daily trading noise,'' said John Cleland, chief investment strategist at Security Benefit Group.

Technology issues continued their upward trek, lifting the Nasdaq. Microsoft traded up $3.06 at $64.94, extending a nearly 20 percent gain from the previous session. Chip maker Intel, another bellwether issue, was also up again, rising $1.81 cents to $43.75.

And Internet stocks were up across the board, led by eBay, which reported strong third quarter earnings late Thursday. Shares of the online auction company rose $4.19 to $61.38.

Internet service companies were also up. America Online gained $2.81 to $48.25, and Yahoo! was up $1.98 to $61.50.

Much of the activity on the Dow appeared related to talk that United Technologies was considering buying out Honeywell for $40 billion. Both companies are Dow components. United Technologies fell $7.13 to $60.88; Honeywell was up $4.81 at $40.94.

Stock traders also continued their focus on corporate earnings, a day after the major indexes rebounded from one of the biggest plunges this year.

A warning from Circuit City of lower than expected quarterly earnings set the retailer's stock down $7.88, or 38 percent, to $60.13. Wireless communications company Ericsson also fell, down $1.56 to $12.44, after it warned of weak fourth-quarter earnings.

But Merck climbed $2.69 to $80.25 after the pharmaceutical company beat Wall Street's third-quarter estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a ratio of 7 to 6 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 800.55 million shares, behind the 873.94 million traded Thursday.