Analysts Sting Semis But They’re Holding

  • April 23, 2001
  • Daniel Beighley

 

Stocks took a breather Monday
following two weeks of big tech gains that rallied the Nasdaq 34% from its low.
Analysts had generally expected some sort of pullback from what many felt were
extremely overbought levels, so the down draft was not that big of a
surprise. 

While the Nasdaq sank 4.8% Monday, the
fact that it held above its 50-day moving average was constructive. High-profile
downgrades of Oracle and Intel stung the techs, but they managed to avoid a
panic-driven selloff. While the semis were stung, many are still holding above
support levels.

Strength in energy-related stocks
helped keep the blue chips afloat, as the Dow lost just 0.5% and the S&P 500
eased 1.5%.

Volume was fairly light with 1.8
billion shares trading on the Nasdaq and 1.0 billion shares changing hands on
the NYSE.

“This
market is unlikely to return to the high-momentum growth market of the past five
years. The sting of lost wealth
carries with it an ‘air of caution’. Value
will matter,” said Paul Rabbitt,
President, RabbittAnalytics.com.

“You can expect a broadening
of the playing field to include growth but do not bet the farm on the old
‘greater fool’ momentum game of yesteryear.” he added.

According
to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq slipped 104.03 to 2059.38, the Dow eased
47.62 to 10,532.23, and the S&P 500 lost 18.62 to 1224.36.

Top
sectors were oil services
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 2.9% and integrated oils
(
$XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 2.1%.

Weakest
sectors were computer technology
(
$XCI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 5.1%, Internets
(
$GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 5.8%, and semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 5.8%.

In
earnings news, Exxon Mobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted earnings of $1.44 per share, topping
analyst estimates of $1.35. Exxon closed up 2.83 to 88.01.

Also
gaining in the energy realm was Calpine
(
CPN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which jumped 2.30 to 54.19
following a three-day pullback.

Losers
in the SOX were Rambus
(
RMBS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 9.3%, LSI Logic
(
LSI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 8.0%,
and Xilinx
(
XLNX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 7.5%.

Dow
winners in addition to Exxon were 3M
(
MMM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 3.4%, Philip Morris
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 1.6%, and Coca-Cola
(
KO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 1.0%

Dow
dogs were Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 4.0%, AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 4.2%, and Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 6.5%.

Hard
hit in tech-land were JDS Uniphase
(
JDSU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 15%, Oracle
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 13%, and Sun Micro
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 10%.

Looking
ahead, the April Consumer Confidence numbers will be released on Tuesday at
10:00 AM ET, and analysts expect to see a reading of 112.9 which would put it
below March’s 117.0.