This Breakout Cannot Be Denied
Stocks are lower mid-day, as
the Dow and S&P 500 have retraced to their 50% marks, measuring from the October
lows to the December highs. The selling has brought these indexes below the
bottoms of three-month trading ranges, as talk of retesting the October lows has
surfaced. Ongoing concerns of conflict with Iraq, and problems in North Korea
and Venezuela have inspired buying in Gold
(
GCG3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which has hit a
five-year high.Â
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is -2.48% at 8,162.20. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is -2.53% at 864.90. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is -2.84%
at 1,348.81.
The day’s only winning sector
is gold and silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.35%.
Leading the market down are
insurance
(
$IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.55%, semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-4.40%, and software
(
$GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.04%.
There are no economic releases for today.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +175 at 114 290.
The Dollar is -0.62 at
99.55.
Gold is +3.80 at 368.50.
Crude Oil is +0.45 at
32.70.
Volume is at 803,190,000
on the NYSE and at 902,123,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 3.07, and down
volume is over up volume by a 4.42 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues are at 2.93, and down volume is over up volume by a 6.39 ratio.
Leading the Dow lower are:
Walt Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
4.92% at 16.81, JP Morgan
(
JPM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.66% at 23.96, Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.61% at 20.70, American Express
(
AXP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.56% at
33.66, Intel Corp.
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.19% at 15.97, SBC Communications
(
SBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -4.00% at 24.51.
Stocks in the news:
Coffee retailer Starbucks
(
SBUX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+12.29% at 22.48, beat its first-quarter earnings expectations by $0.02 with
profits of $0.20 per share. The company was also upgraded by CIBC World Markets
to “sector outperform” from “sector perform.”
Medical equipment and supplies company Varian
Medical
(
VAR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.65% at 51.19, beat its first-quarter earnings
expectations by $0.06 with profits of $0.30 per share.
Electric utilities company American Electric
(
AEP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.99% at 25.01, missed its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.03 with profits of $0.52 per share.
Printer maker Lexmark
(
LXK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.13% at
60.76, has been upgraded by Merrill Lynch to “buy” from “neutral.”
Online retailer Amazon.com
(
AMZN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.16% at 22.26, beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.05 with profits of $0.19 per share.
Despite reporting its first
quarterly loss in its history, restaurant company and Dow component McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.67% at 14.75, has been upgraded by Goldman Sachs to “in-line” from
“underperform.”
In the defense contractor
business, Raytheon
(
RTN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.30% at 30.35, missed its earnings
expectations by $0.01 with profits of $0.64 per share. And Lockheed
Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.11% at 52.22, beat its expectations by $0.04 with
profits of $0.85 per share, though they guided the full-year 2003 lower.
In the chip business,
KLA-Tencor
(
KLAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.63% at 34.73, beat its second-quarter earnings
expectations by $0.01 with profits of $0.15 per share, but has been downgraded
to “hold” from “buy” by Prudential. Genesis Microchip
(
GNSS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.75%
at 15.94, beat its third-quarter earnings by $0.02 with profits of $0.09.
Lattice Semiconductor
(
LSCC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.15% at 8.40, reported earnings in line
with expectations with profits of $0.06 per share. And Flextronics
(
FLEX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.73% at 8.31, beat its third-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.02 with profits of $0.13.
Also in the sector, Broadcom
(
BRCM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -15.11% at 14.95, has been downgraded by Merrill Lynch to “sell.”
The company’s CEO also stepped down.
Homebuilder Beazer Homes
(
BZH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.18% at 61.43, beat its first-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.08 with profits of $2.75 per share.
Retailer Dollar Tree
(
DLTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -9.90% at 22.66, missed its fourth-quarter earnings
expectations by $0.01 with profits of $0.76 per share.
danielb@tradingmarkets.com