Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Scott Bleier, Chief Investment
Strategist, Prime Charter Limited: “The main story today is the Nasdaq and
chip stocks. The SOX, which has been bouncing around between 900 and 1200, just
put in a good bounce after falling pretty sharply, and now it looks like it
wants to go test its most recent low and is making a lower high. This is not a
very good sign on the heels of an Intel downgrade yesterday.
“I think the Nasdaq has some more work to do, and it looks like we are
going to break 4000 on the Comp. I think for the Nasdaq we are going to actually
make a higher bottom in the overall Nasdaq index during the first half of this
month, at which time we will put in another rally to see if we can get through
our old, recent trading range high of about 4200 or 4250.
“I think that we are going to rally in the last half of September and
then see another pullback. So, I’m looking for the market to break out until
people least expect it, and that could, perhaps in the month of October. I think
the election will be nothing more than a positive distraction for the market,
but all in all, there is not a lot to get in the way of the market.”
Art Hogan, Chief Market Analyst,
Jefferies & Co.: “We’ve got a couple of forces in the market today. We
have some consolidation news out in the financial space with Citigroup taking
over AFS and some rumored takeover news of J.P. Morgan being looked at by
Deutsche Bank. So that’s got the financial stocks screaming. That’s also on the
heels of some terrific economic data released this morning at 8:30 AM ET on the
productivity front.
“The negative thing going on in the marketplace today is another
downgrade in the semiconductor space. Micron is off 8 points or 10% on a
downgrade, and that’s on the heels of yesterday’s Intel downgrade, which is down
another 2 points today. So there are these conflicting forces in the
marketplace, but the Dow will do well most of the day as long as the financials
stay healthy. The Nasdaq will probably be weak most of the day as long as the
semiconductors remain weak. So it looks like these two conflicting forces will
be with us throughout the day and into the close.”