Goldilocks Economy?

Better-than-expected retail sales for January have hinted that maybe the
economy is not as dead as most analysts feared, and that seems to be having a
positive impact on stocks Tuesday. After all, if the economy remains strong and
we see the “soft landing” that Greenspan wanted, then profits will
not be hurt as much as feared.

Once again, Greenspan may have paved the way for another Goldilocks-style
economy that is not-too-hot and not-too-cold. If he did, then hail Greenspan.

The strong retail sales number might keep some of the heat off Greenspan
today as he addresses Congress regarding the state of the economy. It will be
interesting to see if any Democrat musters up the courage to hit Greenspan with
some tough questions regarding his recent pro-tax-cut flip-flop.

The Dow futures are up 8 points, and the Nasdaq futures are up 18.5 points.

The S&Ps look to open up 2 points while the yield on the 10-year Treasury
is holding at 5.03%.

Tuesday Movers

B2B PurchasePro
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topped Street estimates and earned 11 cents per
share for its recent quarter. That beat analyst estimates of a 1 cent per share
loss, and that has PPRO trading up to 18 13/16 following its Monday close of 15
29/32.

Taking a cue from PPRO, Ariba
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is also looking at a bounce and is
trading up to 24 7/8 following a Monday close of 23 7/8.

Monday’s big disaster was storage company Emulex
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which fell 37
1/8 to 40 3/8 after issuing an earnings warning for its upcoming quarter. EMLX
is trading higher Tuesday and is currently seeing buyers at 41 1/8 in pre-market
activity.

Cisco Systems
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is set to build on Monday’s 1 3/8 rebound to 29
9/16. The networking giant is currently trading up to 29 7/8 in pre-market
activity.

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