Make Or Break
With the Nasdaq down more than 40% from its March highs, several major
brokerages came out with yet more downgrades in the technology sector, and
that helped pummel not just the Nasdaq but also the last few tech darlings that
still had some gains for the year. Squabbling lawyers and allegations of vote
counters actually eating discarded ballot chads only added to the market’s
indigestion.
At the close, the Nasdaq had sustained the most damage, losing 5.0% for the
day. The Dow and S&P 500 sustained losses of just 1.6% and 1.8%,
respectively, thanks in part to money flowing into defensive issues like
consumer stocks and pharmaceuticals.
The only consolation for the Nasdaq was the fact that volume held steady from
Friday’s level with 1.74 billion shares trading. NYSE volume added about 6% to
Friday’s level, as 952 million shares changed hands.
letter-spacing:-.1pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA” Times>”With the world’s most important job still
vacant there are, as they say, more than just a few crosscurrents.
It wants this to end, and when that happens the market again could rally
sharply. Another rally, however, is
almost certain to be just that, another rally,” said Frank Gretz, Market
Analyst, Shields & Co.
letter-spacing:-.1pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA” Times>“And
despite the seasonal upward bias, there’s reason to doubt if there will be an
upward bias at all. Certainly in
beaten up stocks like the semi’s and, for that matter, most of the techs,
there’s room to bounce. Everyone is
looking for a rally, and the market rarely accommodates everyone,” he
added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq
fell 151.47 to 2875.72, the Dow dropped 167.22 to 10,462.65, and the S&P 500
lost 25.09 to 1342.63.
Top sectors were Gold and Silver
(
$XAU.X |
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up 0.7%, drugs
(
$DRG.X |
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$CMR.X |
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up 0.5%.
Biggest losers included broker/dealers
(
$XBD.X |
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down 4.6%, Internets
(
$GIN.X |
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$BTK.X |
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down 10.5%.
Among
the tech holdouts that until recently had refused to collapse included Juniper
Networks
(
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(
CHKP |
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Brocade
(
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In
the Internets, a Lehman Brothers downgrade of eBay
(
EBAY |
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8 15/16 or 20% for a close down to 34 1/2.
Dow
winners were Merck
(
MRK |
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(
JNJ |
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and SBC
(
SBC |
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(
GM |
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(
KO |
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PowerRating), with each down more than 7%.
Looking
ahead, this week’s economic news is light because of the Thanksgiving Day
holiday, but on the horizon is the October existing home sales report due out
next Monday at 10:00 AM ET.