A Roller Coaster Ride

July 16, 2002
Daniel Beighley

The
markets took a roller-coaster ride today with the major indexes
selling off for the first hour, rallying to the day’s highs by 1 pm ET, then
then selling off to close just above the day’s lows. The biggest gainers of the
day were biotechnology, telecoms, Internet, an oil services. The biggest losers
were retail, utilities, insurance, and consumer stocks.

The Semiconductor Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
closed down 2.19% after rallying earlier in the day. The index made its first
close above its 20-day moving average in seven weeks yesterday, and closed just
above that mark today. Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 3.97%, announces earnings
after the bell, which may be pivotal for the sector.

U.S. Treasury Bonds were
down 1 ’02 at 103 ’25.

In economic news, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan took
center stage as he said that economic fundamentals were in place for a return to
sustained healthy growth. He also warned that a loss of faith in corporate
America could keep growth from achieving its full potential.

Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.56, and down
volume over up volume by a 1.90 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 1.04, and down volume beat up volume by a 1.09 ratio. The
VIX
was up 2.75 at 42.05. The TRIN
was up 0.52 at 1.28.

Above-average volume had the Dow, the S&P 500
and the Nasdaq to closing at the bottom of their daily ranges range. The
Broker/Dealer Index
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 1.61%, traded in a narrow range
and closed at the bottom of its daily range.

Broker Merrill Lynch
(
MER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 1.08% at 37.35, beat its earnings consensus by 8 cents, with profits of 66
cents per share.

Industrial machinery maker Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 4.84% at 43.00, announced that their second-quarter earnings
came in at 58 cents a share, missing analysts estimates of 73 cents a share.

Aviation and aerospace company Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.79% at 40.87, rose after being upgraded by Morgan Stanley to
“overweight” from “underweight” due to the company’s recent
contract wins.

Banking company Citigroup
Inc.
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.00% at 36.20, announced plans to buy back $5 billion of
its own shares.

Drug maker Johnson &
Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.24% at 50.10, posted an increase of 12 percent in
second-quarter profits.

Food processing company Performance
Food
(
PFGC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 5.46% at 31.64, increased its earnings guidance to 45
cents to 47 cents a share vs. the Multex consensus of 40 cents a share.

Textiles company Mohawk
Industries
(
MHK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 13.94% at 47.50, missed its second-quarter Multex
earnings consensus by a penny.Â

Car maker General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 4.34% at 45.84, beat its its earnings expectations with profits of
$2.53 a share vs. a Thompson First Call consensus of $2.42 per share.

Home appliance company Maytag
Corp.
(
MYG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 16.82% 32.32, beat its earnings expectations by a
penny with profits of 86 cents a share vs. the Thompson First Call consensus of
85 cents.

From TM’s proprietary Momentum
List, regional Southwest Bancorporation of Texas
(
SWBT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up
4.79% at 34.55.

A Roller Coaster Ride

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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