Stock prices rose in New York as technology shares, which had threatened on Wednesday to end their spectacular run, bounced back on announcements of strong earnings and stock splits with a merger thrown in for good measure. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 81.10 points at 9,281.33. But the blue-chip index failed to make back Wednesday's 124-point loss and market analysts were downbeat.

Internet stocks led the charge, as search service Yahoo announced it was buying GeoCities for $4.58 billion (€4 billion) in stock. Yahoo shares were up sharply and GeoCities shares soared on Nasdaq. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by 1,558 to 1,454 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 534 unchanged.