Auch wenns keinen interessiert:die Nasdaq hat

Wal-Mart, SBC Communications, American Express, International Paper and McDonald's. Gainers were topped by Intel, Philip Morris, Honeywell, 3M and AT&T.

The Nasdaq Composite swelled 10 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,856 and the Nasdaq 100 Index climbed 18 points, or 1.3 percent, to 1,471.

In the tech sector, a jump in shares of Sun Micro following upbeat analyst comments on its business prospects lifted the entire group. See Hardware stocks. Chip and
networking shares also burst into the plus column in afternoon action, with the latter enjoying a slew of upgrades from Banc of America Securities.

While the economy is clearly on the mend based on a recent slew of positive indicators, investors remain worried about the timetable of an earnings recovery and feel
especially vulnerable ahead of the first-quarter reporting season. And a slew of analyst downgrades in the broader market reminded investors that valuations pose a
threat to many stocks.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index backed up 0.1 percent while the Russell 2000 Index of small-capitalization stocks erased 0.3 percent.

Volume came in at 919 million on the NYSE and at 1.39 billion on the Nasdaq. Market breadth was slightly negative, with decliners surpassing advancers by 17 to 14 on
the NYSE and by 20 to 15 on the Nasdaq.

ISM strengthens; Merrill ups growth, EPS estimates

The ISM Index for March rose to 55.6 percent vs. the previous reading of 54.7 percent and expectations for a 54.8 percent level. Readings above the 50-percent mark
suggest an expanding manufacturing sector while readings below that level indicate the factory sector is contracting. The ISM had been below 50 for 18 straight months
until February's report.

The ISM sub-indexes were equally encouraging, with the new orders index climbing to a 14-year high of 65.3 from 62.8 and the employment component rising to 47.5
from 43.8.

Merrill Lynch chief economist Bruce Steinberg upped 2002 gross domestic product and earnings estimates on a belief the U.S. economy is outperforming even the most
optimistic expectations thanks to the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus.

GDP is now expected to rise 3.2 percent in 2002, about half a percentage point above prior forecasts. And S&P 500 operating EPS are seen increasing by 21 percent in
2002 and 19 percent in 2003 as strong productivity growth is expected to lead to wider profit margins.

In other economic news, February construction spending climbed 1.1 percent, above projections for a 0.7 percent advance and the biggest monthly jump in a year.

Analyst actions invade marketplace

Analysts were incredibly active Monday, with Ford lowered to a "sell" from a "hold" at Prudential Financial and Nokia sliced to a "buy" from a "strong buy" at CS First
Boston.

On Ford (NYSE: F - news) , Prudential said it believes the automaker will lose significant market share and make little progress in its turnaround before 2004. The firm
cut 2002 and 2003 earnings-per-share estimates on the stock as well. Ford shares were knocked with a 4.9-percent loss. Fellow automaker General Motors erased 1.2
percent.

CS First Boston cut wireless giant Nokia (NYSE: NOK - news) , reflecting its below consensus view on the wireless equipment market. The firm said there's a negative
bias to global handset forecasts and added that declining revenues will limit upside in Nokia's shares. Nokia added 0.7 percent, wiping out earlier losses.

Additionally, CSFB trimmed its 2002 and 2003 revenue and earnings estimates for storage colossus EMC (NYSE: EMC - news) on belief that excess capacity continues
to weigh on storage demand. EMC, down as much as 3.9 percent, climbed 1.3 percent. Among its brethren, QLogic added 2.5 percent, Network Appliance 1 percent
and Emulex 2 percent.

Banc of America upgraded the communications equipment group on belief the worst is in the past, even as the firm is expecting only a marginal improvement over the
next few quarters. Among the upped companies were Cisco Systems (NasdaqNM: CSCO - news) , Ciena (NasdaqNM: CIEN - news) , Juniper Networks
(NasdaqNM: JNPR - news) , ONI Systems (NasdaqNM: ONIS - news) , Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU - news) , Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT - news) and Tellabs
(NasdaqNM: TLAB - news) . Cisco ascended 3 percent, Ciena 4.6 percent, Juniper 4 percent and Lucent 2.7 percent. Nortel added 3.6 percent.

Retail stocks smacked by downgrades

Retail issues came under analyst scrutiny, with a plethora of negative actions tempering enthusiasm in the group.

UBS Warburg cut its view on Dow stock Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT - news) to a "buy" from a "strong buy" on belief the retailer lacks a near-term catalyst, sending
shares down 3 percent. And Merrill Lynch sliced Wal-Mart to an intermediate-term "buy" from a "strong buy" on belief retailing stocks look vulnerable both relatively
and absolutely in April & May. The brokerage also shaved its rating on a wide range of retailers, including Federated Dept. Stores and Target. See retail stocks story.

But Goldman Sachs issued a note indicating that Kmart's decline in February comparable-store sales helped to account for the resurgence in comparable-store sales
growth at Target (NYSE: TGT - news) and particularly Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT - news) during the month of February. Target erased 0.9 percent.

Meanwhile, Yahoo shares put on 0.7 percent after Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker issued an uplifting note on the Internet behemoth (NasdaqNM: YHOO - news) ,
expressing her belief that there may be further upside in its shares. The analyst told clients she's more confident in the company's ability to generate long-term growth in
marketing services and advertising revenue. See the Ratings Game.

Sun Microsystems (NasdaqNM: SUNW - news) also benefited from an analyst note, climbing 7.6 percent after Merrill Lynch's Steve Milunovich said channel contacts
indicate that "Sun has pulled out all the stops and should be able to claim victory by realizing sequentially flat to slightly up revenue" for its fiscal third-quarter.

Chips get an SIA-boost

Data revealed that the chip industry is in recovery mode, aiding the Philly Semiconductor Index , which rose 0.2 percent after a sloppy start to the session.

The Semiconductor Industry Association reported that worldwide sales of semiconductors totaled $10.01 billion in February, virtually flat over last month. The San
Jose-based industry group said sales growth in the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas compensated for a dip in Europe and Japan. The SIA noted that "although
business investment has yet to pick up, consumer confidence and inventory replenishing continue to rise, driving the early stages of the overall recovery."

Adelphia Communications (NasdaqNM: ADLAC - news) checked in with a crippling loss of 12.6 percent following devastating losses suffered late last week. The cable
company asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for approval to file its annual report later than usual.

In merger news, Cendant (NYSE: CD - news) said it was snaring Trendwest Resorts (NasdaqNM: TWRI - news) for about $927 million in stock plus the assumption of
$74 million in debt. Cendant shares fell 1.9 percent while Trendwest skipped 4.2-percent higher.

Defense stocks sprinted across the board, with Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC - news) up 3.3 percent after announcing contract awards with a combined value of
$342 million. Other gainers included Lockheed Martin, up 2.9 percent, and General Dynamics, up 2 percent. But Boeing shed 0.6 percent.

Shares of Dow stock Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP - news) edged up 0.1 percent after the company's board left Walter Hewlett off its list of candidates for
nomination due to his adversarial relationship with the company. Walter Hewlett has been a staunch opponent of the proposed merger between H-P and Compaq
Computer. Compaq climbed 0.8 percent.

Nvidia (NasdaqNM: NVDA - news) slid 2.1 percent following a negative mention in the current issue of Barron's, which pointed out that its top competitors Intel and
ATI Technologies have taken steps to regain lost market share.

Digital River (NasdaqNM: DRIV - news) cratered 49.6 percent after the e-commerce outsourcing firm said profit and revenue in the first quarter would fall short of
expectations. See Screamers.

Xerox (NYSE: XRX - news) rose 2.5 percent after informing investors it would restate financial results dating back to 1997 and pay a $10 million fine under a proposed
settlement with the SEC.

Read Movers & Shakers for the latest individual stock action.

Strong data knock Treasurys

Treasurys saw early gains turn into losses as sturdy data stoked rate hike jitters, a fear that has plagued fixed-income investors over the past couple of months.

"With activity clearly accelerating, it is hard to see the ISM report as anything but bad news for Treasurys and yet more evidence of the need for tighter policy,"
commented Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.

The 10-year Treasury note shed 6/32 to yield 5.43 percent while the 30-year government bond gave up 12/32 to yield 5.825 percent.

Separately, corporate bond issuance swelled in the first quarter as corporations looked to lock in rates on the perception that long-term borrowing costs have already
bottomed.

But Moody's said higher borrowing costs and a diminished supply of refinancing could slow the pace of corporate bond sales in the second half of 2002. In the meantime,
credit quality continued to deteriorate as downgrades topped upgrades by a significant margin for the 16th consecutive quarter, the rating agency revealed.

In the currency sector, the dollar rose 0.3 percent to 133.32 yen while the euro rallied 1.1 percent to 88.02 cents. A measure of Japanese business sentiment, the closely
monitored "tankan" survey, came in at minus 38 in the first quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter.