What Today’s Overall Action Signifies

After
gapping up nicely at the open,
the major indexes ran into selling
pressure, that with the aid of a disappointing ISM number sent price action on a
march south for the session. Despite the selling pressure, most tech issues
managed to squeeze in gains for the day, including the semis index, which turned
down from its 200-EMA at its intraday high. Today’s overall reversal action
creates a negative bias for the near term.

Dow Jones Industrial Average
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$INDU.X |
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closed -0.37% at 8,862.57. The S&P 500
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$SPX.X |
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closed -0.19% at 934.53. The Nasdaq
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$COMPQ |
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closed +0.40% at
1,484.82.

The day’s biggest gains were in
oil service
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, +3.78%,  networking
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$NWX.X |
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,
+3.22%, and biotechnology
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, +1.28%.

The day’s biggest losses were
in forest and paper
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$FPP.X |
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, -3.74%, chemicals
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$CEX.X |
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,
-1.89%, healthcare
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, -1.83%, and
utilities

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, -1.37%.

In economic news, the ISM
Index
came in at 49.2% vs. an expected 51.0, and construction spending
was up 0.3% vs. an expectation of no change.

The 10-year U.S. Note
was +035 at 112 130.

The Dollar was -0.05 at
106.45.

Volume was slightly
above average
, with the NYSE coming in at 1,515,110,000, and the Nasdaq at
1,907,817,000.

Market breadth was slightly
positive
, with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of
1.27, and up volume over down volume by a 1.24 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues
over declining issues came in at 1.03, and up volume beat down volume by a 1.25
ratio.

The

VIX
was -1.03 at 30.05. The

TRIN
was -0.16 at 0.97.

Leading the Dow lower were:

Johnson & Johnson
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JNJ |
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,
-2.31% at 55.70, International Paper
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IP |
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, -2.19% at 38.39, Walt
Disney

(
DIS |
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, -2.16% at 19.39, Procter & Gamble
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PG |
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, -2.04%
at 82.80, Du Pont
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DU |
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, -1.38% at 44.00, and Caterpillar
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CAT |
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,
-1.36% at 49.22.

Stocks in the news:

Chip maker Intel
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,
+0.71 at 21.03, was upgraded by Lehman Brothers to “overweight” from
“equal-weight”.

Benefiting from Intel’s good
news were Texas Instruments
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TXN |
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, -1.19% at 19.77, and Analog
Devices

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ADI |
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, +0.48% at 30.84. Also upgraded by Lehman Brothers was
Advanced Micro Devices

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AMD |
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, -0.77% at 8.93.

Retailer Wal-Mart
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WMT |
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,
+0.89% at 54.38, reported record single-day sales for Nov. 29, with revenue
coming in at $1.43 billion vs. $1.25 billion from a year ago. 

Benefiting from Wal-Mart’s good
news were JC Penny
(
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, +3.53% at 24.57, Best Buy
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BBY |
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,
+1.33% at 28.05, Sears
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S |
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, +1.04% at 27.99, Target
(
TGT |
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,
+2.76% at 35.74, and Office Max
(
OMX |
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, +4.86% at 6.25.

Parent of United Airlines,
UAL Corp
.
(
UAL |
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, +33.87% at 3.28, rallied after its union agreed to vote
on a revised cost-cutting plan that aims to keep the air carrier out of
bankruptcy. 

Office equipment company
Pitney Bowes

(
PBI |
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, -1.24% at 34.86, was upgraded by UBS Warburg to
“buy” from “hold”.

Software company Internet
Security

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ISSX |
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, -2.75% at 24.34, was downgraded by Wachovia to “hold”
from “buy”.

Computer services company
Electronic Data Systems

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EDS |
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, -1.96% at 17.99, was downgraded by Pipper
Jaffray to “underperform” from “market perform”.

Regional bank Fifth Third
Bancorp

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FITB |
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, +2.89% at 57.62, was upgraded by Morgan Stanley to
“outperform” from “equal-weight”.

Biotech firm Genzyme
(
GENZ |
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,
+7.43% at 35.24, was upgraded by CSFB to “outperform” from “neutral” with a
price target of $40.

Healthcare and pharmaceutical
stocks were taken down another notch, with Schering Plough
(
SGP |
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,
-5.11% at 21.50, United Health
(
UNH |
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, -5.89% at 76.65, Tenet
Healthcare

(
THC |
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, -3.73% at 17.76, and Mid Atlantic
(
MME |
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,
-4.38% at 29.64.