Techs Sink Along With Microsoft; J.P. Morgan and Wal-Mart Rally
NEW YORK -- Weakened by last week's sell-off and desperate for a life preserver, technology stocks instead got a millstone -- courtesy of Microsoft -- and sank along with it.</br></br>Many of the best-performing stocks of this year's first quarter suffered losses. Applied Micro Circuits fell 32 7/8 to 117 3/16. Juniper Networks dropped 30 9/16 to 233. Sandisk declined 17 1/2 to 105. PMC-Sierra slid 34 1/16 to 169 5/8. And Rambus, the best-performing name so far during 2000up 337% for the period-surrendered 37 9/16 to 256 15/16. (All trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market.)</br></br>"The psychology has changed, even though the fundamentals have not," said Thomas Galvin, the chief market strategist at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. "We're in a hand-wringing high-technology correction."</br></br>The sell-off was sparked by news that Microsoft couldn't reach a settlement with the government in its antitrust suit.</br></br>Drug, financial and retail blue chips all mounted big improvements during Monday's trading. Merck gained 4 5/8 to 66 3/4. J.P. Morgan added 10 to 141 3/4, the first time it has traded that high since November. Wal-Mart Stores gained 5 7/8 to 61 1/2.