No Matter Who Wins The Election Tuesday, Here Is The Clear Winner
Stocks were higher Monday, the
day before Election Day. Mid-morning,
weakness in heating oil and the energy markets sent stocks higher. Crude oil
made a 4-week low.
Personal income for September rose +0.2%; personal spending rose 0.6%, in-line
with estimates. The ISM manufacturing index fell to 56.8 in October from 58.5 in
September. A figure over 50 indicates expansion.
The Dow transports are at a 5-year high; the
utility Index is at a 3-year high; the Smallcap Index is 1.4% from a historic
high and the S&P Midcap Index is near historic highs.
No matter who wins the election tomorrow, there
is a clear winner: radio and TV. More than $600 million in ads have been spent
in Election 2004–more than triple that of 2000.
Q3 earnings for the S&P 500 rose 15.9%–record
highs for S&P–but high P/Es have been preventing a larger advance, observers
say.
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell by 9% after a Wall
Street Journal article said the company may have downplayed the risks of Vioxx.
At these levels , the dividend yield on MRK is 5.3%.
Oracle
(
ORCL |
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News |
PowerRating) raised its offer for Peoplesoft
(
PSFT |
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News |
PowerRating) by
$3 to $24, calling it the “best and final” offer.
Wal-Mart’s
(
WMT |
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News |
PowerRating) October sales rose
2.8%.
Lockheed Martin
(
LMT |
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News |
PowerRating) will take a $110
million charge in Q4.
| Dow | +27.66 | 10055.20 |
| S&P 500 | +0.30 | 1130.50 |
| Nasdaq | +4.74 | 1979.63 |
Strong sectors were: Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.29%, Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.53%, Retail
(
RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.66%.
Weak sectors were:Â Gold
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.42%, Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.35%, Healthcare
(
HCX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.03%.
The dollar was +0.30 at
85.21
Gold was -2.30 at 426.90
Crude Oil was -1.58 at 50.18
1.51 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1865 | Up Vol 642 |
| Declining | 1431 | Down Vol 644 |
| Ratio | 1.30 | 1.00 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1588 | Up Vol 908 |
| Declining | 1543 | Down Vol 513 |
| Ratio | 1.03 | 1.76 |
Stocks in the News
Tyco
(
TYC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02 but guided lower for Q1.
Infineon
(
IFN |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was downgraded at Goldman, to in-line from outperform.
Humana
(
HUM |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.08 and guided higher.
Northup Grumman
(
NOC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) received two Navy contracts, worth $492 million and
$112 million.
Coach
(
COH |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the subject of a positive article in Barron’s.
Progressive Corp.
(
PGR |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the cover story in Barron’s and the
subject of a positive article.
Brice Wightman