$35 Oil?
Stocks are lower Tuesday mid-session, with the Dow
off by triple digits at one point.
With 92% of the rigs closed, Gulf oil production is being affected.
Valero
(
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Chevron
(
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in Mississippi and Louisiana. President Bush may tap the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve.
Oil service stocks such as Schlumberger
(
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(
HAL |
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Also, home improvement stocks like Home Depot
(
GD |
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(
LOW |
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(
WMT |
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Finally, watch the insurers like Allstate
(
ALL |
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(
AIG |
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PowerRating).
Consumer confidence picked up unexpectedly in August, with the
Conference Board’s index rising to 105.6 from 103.6 in July. Factory orders
fell 1.9% in July, less than expected, but still the largest drop since April
2004. Chain store sales for the last week in August fell 1%.
A NYSE member was charged with making a death threat against a
seatholder who is suing to block the Archipelago deal. Police had been
investigating a telephone message left by Edward Reiss, 65, who turned himself
in and was charged with misdemeanor aggravated harassment charges before being
released. William Higgins and three other NYSE members are attempting to block
the NYSE acquisition of Archipelago.
Chevron CEO David O’Reilly said $70 oil was unsustainable and will
ultimately reduce consumption. Steve Forbes predicted the oil bubble will
burst, saying that prices would fall to $30-$35 within a year. Forbes said an oil
market burst will make the year 2000 high tech bubble "look like a picnic" and
says the current high price of oil is due to speculators and that demand from
India and China only accounts for a small part of the price rise. Other
economists fear that a jump in oil prices caused by supply disruptions may slow
the U.S. economy.
Strong Sectors are: Oil Services
(
OSX |
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+2.43% Oil
(
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+2.43% Natural Gas
(
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+1.38%
Weak sectors
are: Airlines
(
XAL |
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-3.00%
| Dow |
-89.48 | 10,374.57 |
| Nasdaq |
-16.63 | 2121.02 |
| S&P 500 |
-8.52 | 1203.76 |
Stocks in the news:
ATI Technologies
(
ATYT |
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PowerRating)
cuts its Q4 revenue forecast.
Infineon
(
IFX |
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PowerRating) signed a deal to supply components to Microsoft for
the new XBox.
Abercrombie & Fitch
(
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PowerRating) said that August comps rose 24%; the company also reaffirmed its
outlook. Also, President and CEO Robert Singer is leaving the company.
A Chinese research group survey found that Baidu.com
(
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gaining market share against Google
(
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Finish Line
(
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PowerRating) guided lower for Q2. (full
story)
Profits at China’s CNOOC rose 68% in the first half of 2005.
Brice Wightman