Alive And Well
The bears are alive and well on
Wall Street as the major indexes opened down, made a weak attempt to rally, then
sold off into the close. Many key technology sectors are now trading below their
200-day MA’s, including the semiconductor index, which crossed under today.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 1.30%Â to
9,766.45.
The S&P 500
(
$SPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 1.60%
to 1,118.84.
The Nasdaq [$COMPQ |$COMPQ] closed down 3.22%
to 1,946.53.
In economic news, mixed signals were given from
two reports. The Commerce Department said that retail sales fell 3.7%, the
biggest one-month drop since 1992. Analysts were expecting a 3% drop. Auto sales
were the hardest hit. The Labor Department announced initial jobless claims fell
by 86,000 to 394,000, the largest drop since 1992.
Overall,
NYSE volume was 1,419,476,000.
NYSE advancing issues were 1,065,
with up-volume at 456,348,000;
declining issues were 2,055,
with down-volume at 919,337,000.
Overall, Nasdaq volume was 2,031,314,000.
Nasdaq advancing issues were 1,302,
with up-volume at 427,619,000;
declining issues were 2,323 with
down-volume at 1,594,514,000.
The VIX
was up 1.23Â to 26.75. The TRIN
was down .08 to 1.04. Slightly above average volume on the session doesn’t necessarily ring any
alarms, though the day’s action was clearly dominated to the downside. The past
few sessions of trading now have the Dow and S&P 500 below their 200-day
moving averages. The Nasdaq still remains above its 200-day MA, though its
leadership was the hardest hit today.
Top
sectors of the day were the
Biotechnology Index
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 1.25% at 567.58,
and the Utility Sector
Index
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 1.03% at 313.01.
Losing
sectors of the day were the Networking
Index
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 9.57% at 314.56,
and the GSTI Multimedia Networking Index
(
$GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 8.59% to
127.13.
Networking
company Ciena
(
CIEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 16.64% to 14.98,
warned that it expects quarterly sales to fall 30% – 40% for a possible
operating loss for the year.
Telecom
equipment maker Lucent
(
LU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 15.39%
to 6.54,
announced that revenues will fall 30% – 35% for the last quarter, a bigger loss
than analysts expected.
Health
insurer Aetna
(
AET |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.61% to 30.85,
announced it will cut 6,000 jobs or 16% of its workforce and will have a fourth
quarter charge of $125 million in severance. This is the company’s second major
workforce reduction in two years.
Internet employment resource HotJobs.com
Ltd.
(
HOTJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 58.89% to 10.28, rose after it was announced
that Yahoo! would buy the company for $10.50 a share. Â
Telecommunications
company Qwest Communications International Inc.
(
Q |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 3.14%
to 1.72, announced it
expects weak demand for its products in the next year and will be cutting 11% of
its workforce.
The number
two U.S. life insurer Prudential Financial Inc.
(
PRU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 7.82%
to 29.65,
had its trading debut on the NYSE today.
Aircraft manufacturer
Boeing Co.
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.30%
to 36.91, announced that it will cut up to 1,500 jobs and slow production on its
slow-selling 717 jet. The company will be taking $700 million in charges, mostly
related to the Sept. 11 attacks.