Buyers Come In For 2:00 PM Rally…Why?
Stocks opened up flat Thursday and
ended the day higher.
The Dow Jones Industrials closed higher by
0.5%
while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.3%. The markets
continued to have a see-saw ride throughout the day until the all important
hour of 2:00 PM EST came about. From that point we saw the markets move higher
as buyers stepped in.Â
With all the warnings coming out
Wednesday night, it’s no wonder why traders were reluctant to go on a buying frenzy
early in the trading day.
Stocks that led the percent gain
column were Winnebago Industries
(
WGO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which announced on Wednesday that it
would make some executive management changes. The stock closed up 13.0%
Also showing some strength was
Three Five Systems
(
TFS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which tacked on 20.3%.
Anadigics Inc.
(
ANAD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) moved
higher after closing strongly yesterday. The company introduced ARA2005
which provides reverse amplifications in CATV applications. The wireless and
broadband company gained 13.3%.
Synplicity
(
SYNP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 18.3% as Robertson Stephens raised its investment rating on the
semiconductor software supplier from a market perform to a buy. Â
Sectors that showed some leadership were
the Interactive Week Internet Index
(
$IIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which gained 2.9%
today.
The Banking Sector Index
(
$BKX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was assisted by Bear Stearns
(
BSC |
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News |
PowerRating) and Morgan Stanley
(
MWD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). The index close 3.4% higher.
The Securities Broker Dealer Index
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
put in a good show as it gained 3.3%
Individual stocks in the losing column included Catalina Marketing
(
POS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which shed 13.9% as Jefferies &
Co. downgraded the stock from Accumulate to a Hold.
Avery Dennison Corp.
(
AVY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost
10.7% as the company was downgraded by two analysts. Goldman Sachs
lowered Avery Dennison from Recommend List to an Outperform and Credit Suisse
First Boston lowered their rating from buy to hold.
Shares of Transmeta Corp.
(
TMTA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
were pummeled as the company announced Q2 sales would be
lower than expected. The company reported that shipments to Japan (which is
Transmeta’s biggest market) have slowed. The stock lost 57.4% in today’s
trading.
Sectors moving to the downside were
the Oil Services Index
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which shed 4.4%, Â followed by the
Oil Index
(
$XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which fell 1.3%. Both indexes were impacted by falling fuel prices in the
futures markets.
The Gold and Silver Index
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
lost 1.3%.
This column was
written by Greg Che, while Loren Fleckenstein is enjoying his vacation.