Averages take separate paths

Averages take separate paths

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) – Tech stocks fumbled for a third straight day
Tuesday as investors contended with a profit warning from fiber-optic
giant JDS Uniphase as well as another downpour of earnings in the group.

With the exception of chip stocks, all tech groups weakened in early
action. Networking and hardware stocks led on the downside. In the broad
market, oil, oil service, drug, utility, gold and chemical shares
ascended while retail and biotech shares declined.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJ) rose 23 points, or 0.2
percent, to 10,555.

The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ) declined 19 points, or 0.9 percent, to
2,039 while the Nasdaq 100 Index ($NDX) gave up 24 points, or 1.3
percent, to 1,788.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ($SPX) lost 0.1 percent while the
Russell 2000 Index ($RUT) of small-capitalization stocks edged up 0.1
percent.

Volume came in at 73.8 million on the NYSE and at 151 million on the
Nasdaq Stock Market. Market breadth was slightly positive, with
advancers taking out decliners by 12 to 10 on the NYSE and by 13 to 12
on the Nasdaq.

Individual stock moves

Compaq Computer (CPQ) changed hands at $19.25, down 6.8 percent. The
company missed Wall Street’s expectations when it reported results after
the close Monday. The PC maker posted earnings of 12 cents a share, a
penny ahead of the First Call/Thomson Financial estimate. Compaq also
announced it’s slashing another 2,000 jobs for a total of 7,000
employees.

JDS Uniphase (JDSU) saw its shares fall 8 percent after warning on
its fourth quarter. The fiber-optic giant now sees fourth-quarter
earnings-per-share of 5 cents, shy of the 12 cents a share that had been
expected by Wall Street. JDS announced a major restructuring that will
include slashing 5,000 jobs, or 20 percent of its work force. Meanwhile,
the company also reported third-quarter earnings of 14 cents a share,
which matched Wall Street’s expectations.

Lucent Technologies (LU) posted a fiscal second-quarter loss from
operations of 37 cents per share compared to a profit of 16 cents in the
year-ago period. Excluding the impact of Winstar and certain
write-downs, Lucent lost 22 cents a share. First Call had expected a
loss of 23 cents per share. The stock erased 5.4 percent.

Among the Dow stocks reporting their results Tuesday was DuPont. The
chemical giant (DD) reported a first-quarter profit from operations of
54 cents a share, ahead of the First Call/Thomson Financial estimate by
three cents but down 36 percent from results posted in the same period
last year. DuPont said it anticipates the global economic slowdown will
impact the manufacturing sector through the second quarter and perhaps
into the second half of 2001. Shares rose 2 percent.

And Dow stock AT&T (T) reported first-quarter earnings of 6 cents
a share, topping the consensus estimate by a penny but down 82 percent
from the same period a year ago. The stock added 0.9 percent.

Treasury focus

Government prices fumbled following Monday’s positive price action,
with losses spread pretty much across the board.

The 10-year Treasury note was off 9/32 to yield ($TNX) 5.22 percent
while the 30-year government bond shed 13/32 to yield ($TYX) 5.765
percent.

Tuesday will see perhaps the most important economic release of the
week: the April consumer confidence index, expected to come in at 112.1
vs. the previous month’s 117. View Economic Preview and economic
calendar and forecasts.

In the currency arena, dollar/yen climbed 0.6 percent to 121.94 while
euro/dollar shaved 0.1 percent to 0.8980.