Here's An Indication For Tomorrow's Open

The markets ended the day lower as pressing war issues and disappointing economic news weighed on sentiment. Price action gapped down and hit its lows by 10:30 am ET, then moved higher throughout the session with a steep sell off in the last hour. Despite the "window dressing" effect, late-day selling indicates weakness going into tomorrow's session, as it's often the smart money that closes the day. Bellwether semiconductors and broker/dealers closed at the bottom of their daily ranges. On the war front, coalition forces remain just outside of Baghdad.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) closed -1.88% at 7992.13. The S&P 500 ($SPX.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) closed -1.78% at 848.12. The Nasdaq ($COMPQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) closed -2.10% at 1,340.78.

The only positive sectors were gold and silver ($XAU.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), +0.28%, and healthcare ($HMO.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), +0.27%.

Biggest losers were semiconductors ($SOX.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -4.42%, Internet ($GIN.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -4.21%, broker/dealers ($XBD.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -2.74%, and software ($GSO.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -2.37%.

In economic news, Chicago PMI disappointed at 48.4 vs. expectations of 50.8.

The Ten Year Note (TYH3 | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) was +170 at 114 280.

The US dollar (DXH3 | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) was -0.86 at 99.49.

Volume was average, with the NYSE coming in at 1,360,214,000 and the Nasdaq at 1,543,233,000.

Tobacco company Altria Group (MO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -6.75% at 29.96, was smacked down after it was reported that its Philip Morris USA division could not produce $12 billion for a bond to appeal a legal  case in Illinois. The stock is a member of TM's Implosion List.

In the chip business, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -7.56% at 6.84, and United Microelectronics (UMC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -8.23% at 3.01, were downgraded by Deutsche Bank to 'sell" from "hold".

Also in the semiconductor world, the Semiconductor Industry Association said that the usually flat first-quarter was hindered by geopolitical issues, and demand should increase for the second half of the year.  Intel (INTC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -5.455 at 16.28, KLA Tencor (KLAC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -4.79% at 35.94, Texas Instruments (TXN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -5.81% at 16.37, and Applied Materials (AMAT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -4.83% at 12.59.

Electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), +0.26% at 26.97, said that it is marketing its Musicland business in order to focus on its core electronics retail business.

Biotech company Imclone (IMCL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -9.91% at 16.54, sold off after postponing the release of its fourth-quarter and year end results due the restatement of financials. 

Software company Checkpoint Software (CHKP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -2.49% at 14.47, had its first-quarter estimates cut by CSFB who claims the company's competitive edge has deteriorated in the past six months.

Natural gas utilities company El Paso (EP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), +2.54% at 6.05, posted a big loss for the fourth-quarter as it missed its consensus expectations by $0.84.

Food processing company Kellogg (K | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), +2.64% at 30.65, was upgraded by Bear Stearns to "outperform" from "peer perform".

Money center bank Wachovia (WB | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -1.33% at 34.07, upped its first-quarter earnings guidance to $0.76-0.78 vs. a consensus of $0.72.

Retailer Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), +3.44% at 30.03, was given a positive mention in Barron's over the weekend which claimed the company could go higher due to sales and valuation.

Also in the retail business, Nordstrom (JWN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -6.46% at 16.20, announced that it expects fourth-quarter earnings to come in below below expectations.

Media giant America Online (AOL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -4.31% at 10.86, is being reported to be under investigation by the SEC over whether or not the company misstated $400 million in advertising revenue.

Entertainment company Walt Disney (DIS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -3.78% at 17.02 had its estimates for the full years 2003 and 2004 cut by Goldman Sachs. The firm is now looking for 2003 earnings per share to be $0.59 vs. previous expectations of $0.64.

Oil service company Halliburton (HAL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -3.31% at 20.73, lost a bid for a $600 million contract to help rebuild Iraq.

Auto maker Ford Motor (F | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), +1.48% at 7.52, received negative comments in Barron's over the weekend which claimed the company could lose its debt rating if efforts to revitalize its business fail.

Software company Cognizant Tech (CTSH | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), +0.46% at 67.31 had coverage initiated on it by Morgan Stanley at "underweight".

Defense stocks received negative comments in a Barron's article over the weekend which claimed the following companies are showing weakness due to technical indications: Boeing (BA | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -3.98% at 25.06, Raytheon (RTN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -1.76% at 28.37, Alliant Tech Systems (ATK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -1.08% at 54.01, General Dynamics (GD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -2.25% at 55.07, L-3 Communications (LLL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -3.36% at 40.17, and Rockwell Collins (COL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), -0.10% at 18.37.

danielb@tradingmarkets.com