Can Techs Shake Off the Cisco News?
After
an early morning slide into the red, the major indices are mixed this
midday. Blue chips are outperforming as the Dow
(
$INDU |
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after an upgrade on Coca-Cola
(
KO |
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PowerRating). The S&P
(
$SPX.X |
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slightly higher. Late yesterday, Cisco Systems reported third-quarter results
that beat estimates by a penny. However the company’s cautious comments of flat
revenues for the fourth quarter is putting a drag on tech stocks. Bonds are up
sharply and are back near their March highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
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PowerRating) is +0.14% at 8,600.75. The S&P 500
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$SPX.X |
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is-0.03% at 934.06. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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PowerRating) is -0.39% at
1517.73.
The day’s leading sectors are Oil
Services
(
$OSX.X |
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PowerRating), +2.38%, Paper
(
$FPP.X |
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News |
PowerRating), +1.11%, Energy
(
$DXE.X |
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PowerRating), +1.08%, and Computer Boxmakers
(
$BMX.X |
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PowerRating),
+0.73%..
Weak today are Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
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PowerRating),
-1.09%, Biotechs
(
$BTK.X |
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PowerRating), -1.00%, Semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
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PowerRating),
-0.87%, and Chemicals
(
$CEX.X |
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PowerRating), -0.69%.
In economic news, Wholesale
Inventories for March came in at +1.00% versus estimates of + 0.2%. Consumer
Credit for March will be due out at 15:00 EST.Â
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +140 at 116 050..
The dollar is +0.27 at
95.85.
Gold is -1.20 at 341.60
Crude Oil +0.37 at 26.09
Volume is 750,000,000 on
the NYSE, and at 1,006,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is slightly
mixed, with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.03,
and up volume over down volume by a 1.06 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over
declining issues are at 1.23, and down volume over up volume is at a 1.80
ratio.
Top Dow stocks are:
Coca-Cola
(
KO |
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PowerRating), +4.85% at 43.01, Boeing
(
BA |
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PowerRating), +2.30% at 28.79, United Technologies
(
UTX |
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PowerRating), +1.35% at
63.80, and Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
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PowerRating) +1.22% at 57.21.Â
Stocks in the news:
Black Box Corp.
(
BBOX |
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is up 10% on double its average volume. After accounting for special items, the
company reported fourth quarter results that bested estimates by 2 cents. The
company will also buy back an additional 1 million shares of its stock.Â
Soft drink giant Coca Cola
(
KO |
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PowerRating)
is up 4.50% on heavy volume and earlier hit a three-month high. Morgan Stanley
upgraded the stock from “equal weight” to “over weight” as
Coke’s pricing power should improve in 2004. Â
Emerson Electric
(
EMR |
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is down 5.5% on double its average volume. After the company reported second
quarter results that were down 14%, Emerson also cut its full year outlook.Â
Networking giant Cisco
Systems
(
CSCO |
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PowerRating) are down 2% afert the company reported third quarter
results that beat estimates by a penny late yesterday. However Cisco expects
revenues for the fourth quarter to come in at $4.62 or flat compared to its
latest quarter.Â
Forest Labs
(
FRX |
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PowerRating) is
down 3.5% on heavy volume. The company reported disappointing results in its
Memantine compound for the treatment of nerve pain for diabetics.Â
Lamar Advertising
(
LAMR |
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PowerRating)
is off 3.5% on more than triple its average volume. The company reported a wider
than expected first quarter loss of 20 cents per share versus estimates of 17
cents per share. Going forward, the company expects second quarter revenues to
come in at $206 million while analysts forecast was $211.5 million.  Â