Oracle’s ‘Best And Final’ Offer…
Stocks are higher on lower
oil. Mid-morning, weakness in heating oil
and the energy markets sent stocks higher. 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.
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) is lower by 8% after a
Wall Street Journal article said the company may have downplayed the risks of
Vioxx.
Oracle
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) raised its offer for Peoplesoft
(
PSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) by
$3 to $24, calling it the “best and final” offer.
Wal-Mart’s
(
WMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) October sales rose
2.8%.
Lockheed Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) will take a $110
million charge in Q4.
| Dow | +22.20 | 10049.23 |
| S&P 500 | +0.45 | 1130.65 |
| Nasdaq | +3.40 | 1978.29 |
Strong sectors are: Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.86%, Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.71%, Retail
(
RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.75%.
Weak sectors are:Â Gold
[XAU.X||XAU.X] -1.14%, Oil Services
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.62%, Healthcare
(
HCX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.78%.
The dollar is +0.36 at
84.27
Gold is -2.70 at 426.50
Crude Oil is -1.56 at 50.20
690 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1735 | Up Vol 294 |
| Declining | 1354 | Down Vol 249 |
| Ratio | 1.28 | 1.18 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1450 | Up Vol 450 |
| Declining | 1482 | Down Vol 211 |
| Ratio | 1.02 | 2.13 |
Stocks in the News
Tyco
(
TYC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02 but guided lower for Q1.
Infineon
(
IFN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was downgraded at Goldman, to in-line from outperform.
Humana
(
HUM |
Quote |
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 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the subject of a positive article in Barron’s.
Progressive Corp.
(
PGR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the cover story in Barron’s and the
subject of a positive article.
Brice Wightman