News of CDNow Stake Lifts Stock

Money continues to flow in large quantities across the U.S.-Mexico border--in both directions:

* Mexico’s stock market staged another huge rally Monday, driving the main IPC index as high as 6,192.86 before profit-taking clipped the final gain to 116.10 points--still a 1.9% rise that left the index at a record 6,080.47.

Traders said foreigners remain big buyers of Mexican stocks on optimism about the economy--even though the market is already up 53% in peso terms this year.

* Carlos Slim Helu, one of the wealthiest businessmen in Mexico, announced that he holds 5.3% of online music retailer CDNow Inc.

The news helped boost the stock $1.31 to $18.06 on Nasdaq.

Slim, considered a very shrewd investor, already holds controlling stakes in phone giant Telmex and in Prodigy Communications Corp., an Internet service provider.

Slim didn’t detail what his plans might be for CDNow.

“Sometimes their investments are long term and strategic in nature, and sometimes the investments are just for their short-term purposes,” said Alex Ryshawy, an analyst at Paribas Inc. who follows Slim’s companies.