Wall Street: Wednesday close

A LATE boost from

Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison said the software maker would at least meet Wall Street expectations. He said that if the company knew it would miss its targets it would have said so. 'We did not warn,' he said. Oracle shares vaulted 84 cents or 11% to $8.66 in regular trading and another 10% in extended hours.

The news fueled hopes that a tech turnaround is finally taking hold and put the icing on a rally that had wavered during the day.

Helping at the outset were figures on the non-manufacturing sector of the economy from the Institute of Supply Management indicating that the recovery was on track.

Reports indicating that India and Pakistan might be stepping back from their confrontation also helped sentiment. Analysts said investors appeared preoccupied with news moving markets in the short term. 'Rumours and innuendo are still sparking knee-jerk reactions and that's reflective of how many itchy trigger fingers are out there,' said Bryan Piskorowski, market commentator at Prudential Securities.

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, provided fodder for those forecasting an upturn in the economy when it reported that sales at existing stores rose a higher-than-expected 6.2% in the four weeks ending May 31. Wal-Mart shares rose 96 cents or 1.8% to $54.96.

But worries that job cuts will weigh on consumer confidence and spending were stoked by reports that troubled telco WorldCom was planning to lop 16,000 jobs. WorldCom shares were down fractionally at $1.41.

Business productivity software maker Manugistics was one of the biggest losers of the day after it said it miss forecasts, and was downgraded by analysts. The shares dropped $2.04 or 26% to $5.90.

Three companies knocked by negative headlines this week recovered some lost ground. Tyco International regained 53 cents or 3.2% to $17.30, Nasdaq trader Knight Trading came back 28 cents or 6% to $4.92 and energy company El Paso closed slightly higher at $23.89.

Pharmaceuticals group Bristol-Myers Squibb lost 57 cents or 2% to $28.08 as it was sued by more than half of US States for its tactics in allegedly squashing competition to its anti-cancer drug Taxol.

Gap Stores rebounded 92 cents or 2.3% to $41.01 from its recent plunge after Prudential Securities said the worst might be over for its trendy retailing chains which include The Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy.

Among Dow components, Microsoft firmed $1.68 or 3.4% to $51.66, American Express clawed back 92 cents or 2.3% to $41.01 from its losses of the past two days and IBM bounced $1.24 or 1.6% to $80.55 in a stronger tech sector.