Cool Numbers Would Help

June 15, 2000
Daniel Beighley

Stocks look to edge higher in Thursday trading, as traders await May’s
industrial production and capacity utilization numbers which are due out at 9:15
AM ET. Street estimates look for a 0.3% decrease in industrial production and a
capacity utilization figure of 81.7%.

Analysts continue to look for more evidence of economic cooling that might
further the case for no more Fed rate hikes.

The Dow futures are up 32 points, and the Nasdaq futures are up 7.50 points.

The S&Ps look to open up 1.80 points while the yield on the 10-year
Treasury note is 6.04%.

In other economic news, weekly new jobless claims decreased 16,000 to 296,000
from last week’s number, but the 4-week moving average increased 4500 to
295,750, its highest level since the week ending Oct. 16.

This Morning

Consumer food company H.J. Heinz
(
HNZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced earnings of 63 cents per
share for its fiscal fourth quarter that ended on May 3, and that matched
analyst expectations according to First Call/Thomson Financial. It also improved
on the 60 cents per share the company earned in the same year-ago quarter. Heinz
closed Wednesday unchanged at 39 9/16 per share.

In the pre-earnings warning department, Online software seller Digital River
(
DRIV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it expects its second quarter sales to fall short of Wall
Street estimates. The company’s CEO, however, said he believes the June
30th-ending quarter will equal or better the 40 cent-per-share loss that
analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial anticipate. Digital River closed
Wednesday down 2 7/8 to 10 1/4 and has traded down to 9 3/8 in pre-market
activity.

Last Night

Cool Numbers Would Help

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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