+64% In One Day!
December
started off strong with the S&P closing at the highest level in 18 months.
and many stocks at 52-week highs. Dow components
Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Minnesota Mining
(
MMM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) all made 52-week
highs. BRCM, ASML, LRCX, ALTR, and XLNX. The Institute for Supply Management index on U.S. factory
activity rose to 62.8% for the month of November, 4.9% higher than consensus.
Historically, December is the best month for the S&P, and the second best month
for the Dow.
Market internals were strong,
but volume was on the light side. Semis showed their strongest month-on-month
growth since 2002, according to an industry survey. Chip sales rose 23% for the
year, the strongest gain in 13 years. Several semiconductor stocks made 52-week
highs, including BRCM, ASML, LRCX, ALTR, XLNX.
Boeing’s
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) CEO and Chairman Phil Condit resigned Monday, saying he wanted
to distance the aerospace giant from controversies over its defense contracting.
The company also lost a $1.5 billion Qantas Airways order to Airbus. Vice
Chairman and sole remaining heir Roy Disney resigned from Disney’s
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) company board Monday, and
called on Michael Eisner to resign as CEO. Mr. Disney is being forced to resign
due to a mandatory retirement age rule.
| Dow | +116.37 | 9899.05 |
| S&P 500 | +11.90 | 1070.11 |
| Nasdaq | +29.56 | 1989.82 |
The day’s leading sectors were
Biotechs
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.25%, Chemicals
(
$CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.92%, Gold and
Silver index
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.29%, Software
(
$GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.87%, Healthcare
(
$HCX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.78%.
No sectors were in the red
today.
Economic news releases for
today included Construction spending, up 0.9%, and the ISM index, which rose to
62.8.
10-year Notes were -140
at 111 310.
The dollar
was +0.10 at 90.33.
Gold was +3.74 at
403.01.
Crude Oil was -0.44 at
29.95.
Volume was 1,352,624,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,813,565,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2394 | Up Vol 982 |
| Declining | 890 | Down Vol 235 |
| Ratio | 2.68 | 4.17 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 2027 | Up Vol 1182 |
| Declining | 1203 | Down Vol 491 |
| Ratio | 1.68 | 2.40 |
Stocks in the news:
Protein Design Labs
(
PDLI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gained 23% after it settled a patent dispute with Genentech
(
DNA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
got an upgrade to buy from AG Edwards, which expects a turnaround in GE’s
specialty materials, aircraft engines, power and plastic divisions.
Neurogen
(
NRGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
shot up 64% after announcing an alliance with slumping manufacturer Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
to research, develop and commercialize new pain drugs. Merck will purchase $15
million of Neurogen’s stock, $12 million in research funding and license
maintenance payment and another $15 million for the license fee.
Tripath Technology
(
TRPH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was chosen by Hitachi to power its new line of Plasma TVs. The amplifiers will
be used in the 32, 37, and 42 inch TVs that produce 12 Watts of power.
Later this week, look for
mid-quarter updates from Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Siebel
(
SEBL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com