Cell Phone Users, Take Note
Stocks
rallied Monday, as the market shrugged
off geopolitical concerns and focused on a stronger dollar and anticipated good
economic news this week.
The Dow gained 100 points in the first hour of trading and remained range-bound
for the rest of the session. The rally was broad-based, with strong internals;
80% of the volume went into gaining stocks.
The Nasdaq gained 2.8% — one of the best days of the year — and closed above
its 50-day moving average. YHOO, AMZN, EBAY and ASKJ all rose over 5%. Investor
sentiment surged to a 20-month high in November according to an UBS
report. Sixty percent of those surveyed believe the economy is in a sustained
recovery.
Today was “number portability”
day, which means you can now change your cell phone carrier and keep your
number. Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 0.9%, and AT&T Wireless
(
AWE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 4.42%.
Customers are now
also able to move their home landline number to a wireless provider.
Sprint
(
FON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is cutting 2,000 jobs as part of an effort to reduce costs.
Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced
it had fired CFO Mike Sears for improperly recruiting a US Air Force official
and then lying about it. Delta Airlines
(
DAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 4% after
announcing Chairman and CEO Leo Mullin would retire on May 1, 2004. Gerald
Grinstein will become CEO and John Smith, Jr., will become chairman.
For the week, trade, terrorism,
and the dollar will remain issues, as well as the MediCare and energy bills.
Finally, watch for more news on holiday shopping and spending trends.
| Dow | +119.26 | 9747.79 |
| S&P 500 | +16.80 | 1052.08 |
| Nasdaq | +53.26 | 1947.14 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Disk Drive
(
$DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.59%, Internet
(
$XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+4.00% and Healthcare
(
$HCX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.67%.
Weak today were Amex Gold
Bugs [HUI.X|HUI.X] -2.24%, Gold and
Silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.59%.
No Economic news releases for
today.
10-year Notes were -200
at 113 070.
The dollar
was +1.02 at 91.62.
Gold was -4.67 at 391.99
Crude Oil was -1.74 at
29.74.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2431 | Up Vol 1047 |
| Declining | 864 | Down Vol 188 |
| Ratio | 2.81 | 5.56 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 2316 | Up Vol 1431 |
| Declining | 925 | Down Vol 302 |
| Ratio | 2.50 | 4.73 |
Volume was
1,302,799,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,779,155,000 on the Nasdaq.
Stocks in the news:
Campbell’s Soup
(
CPB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported first-quarter earnings of $211 million on sales of $1.91 billion. It
attributed the higher revenue to stronger demand for its line of ready-to-serve
soups. It expects to earn $1.58 a share for the year.
Fairchild Semiconductor
(
FCS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded by Lehman Brothers to overweight. The price target of
the stock was raised to $27 from $20 on relative valuation, accelerating revenue
growth.
Time Warner
(
TWX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
has greed to sell the Music unit to the Bronfman-led investor group for $2.6
billion. The deal includes rights to legendary recordings by artists such as
Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin.
Boston Scientific
(
BSX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose after a
court denied a request by Johnson & Johnson to block the sale of its coated
stent, saying it was too similar to its own product.
If you have any comments or questions, please
feel free to email me.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com