TICKER TALK

* PaineWebber, in a new report on the explosion in Internet-related stocks, notes that 485 companies entered the auto business between 1900 and 1908--and that 262 of them disappeared by the end of that period. Only a handful ultimately survived (in the United States, they were GM, Ford and Chrysler, the latter soon to become part of Germany’s Daimler-Benz).

PaineWebber’s point, of course, is that simple “survivability” is an even bigger issue--and bigger risk--than stock valuation when choosing Internet issues today.