Financials Fire Up
Financials reversed their previous losses with a healthy bounce on Thursday
that helped take the Dow and S&P 500 up 0.6% each. Technology, on the other
hand, failed to hold on to early-morning gains and sank all the way into the
close.
The only consolation for the Naz was the fact that it booked its third day of
higher lows and managed to keep above last Friday’s crucial 1922.78 low.
Volume was moderate again, with 1.94 billion shares trading on the Nasdaq and
1.22 billion shares trading on the NYSE.
“There’s been plenty of real damage done by the sharp market selloff, and we’re seeing a significant slowdown
in consumer spending. So under the current market circumstances there are plenty
of sell and hold recommendations, but there are few buy recommendations,”
said Alan Ackerman, Market Strategist, Fahnstock & Co.
“Buyers remain lethargic and laid back while so many portfolio managers are playing with pain. The next market move is really contingent upon how
aggressive the Fed will be when it meets March 20. It seems to me that the Fed needs to do something dramatic to restore confidence,”
he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Dow rose 57.82 to 10,031.28, the Nasdaq
fell 31.38 to 1940.71, and the S&P 500 added 6.85 to 1173.56.
Top sectors were broker/dealers
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up 3.2%, insurance
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2.0%.
Weakest sectors were gold and silver
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down 5.1%, and semiconductors
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Despite the recent drubbing in the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500, there
actually are some pockets of strength. For instance, in the telecom arena, both
AT&T
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relative to the rest of the market. Both telecom companies bottomed in late
December and have been quietly rising since then. AT&T is up 45% from its
Dec. low, and WorldCom is up 29% from its low.
Since telecom was partly the scapegoat for the Nasdaq collapse, perhaps the
strengthening in these two leaders portends better times ahead for the greater
Nasdaq. Telecom was one of the better-performing sectors Thursday, and among its
leaders were AT&T, up 4%, and WorldCom, up 7%.
Tech standouts included Nokia
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up 8%, and NVIDEA
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Dow winners in addition to AT&T were Home Depot
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Morgan
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loser was Boeing
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PowerRating), which fell 3.3%.
Looking ahead, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Report is due out Friday at
10:00 AM ET, and analysts look for an 87 reading which is substantially down
from February’s 90.6. Released at 8:30 AM ET will be the Producer Price Index,
housing starts and building permits.