Analysts Hammer Tech
A flurry of technology downgrades and the deaths of several more dot.coms
whacked the Nasdaq Thursday, as the average fell 4.2% to again flirt with that
psychological 3000 support level. Swarms of lawyers criss-crossing Florida only
added to the negative tone. The Dow fell 0.5% and the S&P 500 slid 1.3%.
The only positive for the day was the fact that the big Nasdaq decline came
on lightening volume, as 1.51 billion shares traded as compared to Wednesday’s
1.77 billion. NYSE volume eased by 6%, with just 940 million shares trading.
"The market is still waiting anxiously on a short-term basis to find out
who our President is going to be. It looks like it will probably be Bush, and if
so, we would look for a victory celebration for a couple of days, and then a
little pullback, and then the market will settle into a general uptrend until
mid-January," said Alfred Goldman, Chief Market Strategist, A.G. Edwards
& Sons.
"If it’s Gore, look for a couple of days down and then take it up into
January. Once we get into January, it will be Alan Greenspan who will take
over," he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq plunged 133.02 to 3032.47, the
Dow fell 50.81 to 10656.79, and the S&P 500 slipped 17.63 to 1372.41.
Weakest performing sectors were semiconductors
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Internets
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3.7%.
The few winning sectors of the day included gold and silver
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down 0.8%, and banks
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Recent high-flyer PMC Sierra
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downgrade by Merrill Lynch. Other former leaders under pressure were JDS
Uniphase
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Regarding the recent rash of downgrades in tech, Scott Bleier, Chief Investment
Strategist, Prime Charter Limited: “There was another bearish call on technology today, and a lot of lowered expectations are pretty much being built
into the high-flying technology names.
Avoiding the selloff was Qualcomm
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its highest level in six months. Talk of Qualcomm’s CDMA wireless technology
expanding abroad may have helped contribute to the gains.
Looking ahead, October’s housing starts and new building permits reports will
be released on Friday at 8:30 AM ET, and analysts expect 1.54 million units in
each report.