Green Pre-Greenspan
Following a two-week tech slide, stocks managed to perk up a bit Monday just
a day ahead of Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan’s appearance on Capital Hill.
Retailers, financials, and semiconductors performed best, as blue chips
succeeded in taking the Dow up 1.5% and the S&P 500 up 1.2%. The Nasdaq
added 0.8%.
Market participants commented that the Nasdaq was due for a bounce and that
few analysts expected Greenspan to launch any surprise comments that might upset
the market.
Volume remained moderate, as 1.0 billion shares traded on the NYSE and 1.7
billion shares changed hands on the Nasdaq.
“While the move to aggressive growth was very transparent last month,
February has proven to be a reincarnation of the tilt-a-whirl ride, with
volatility and excess rotation leading the charge,” said Brian Belski,
Fundamental Market Strategist, U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray.
“We believe the market remains fixated on growth stocks, as evidenced by
the relative performance gains of the S&P Growth versus the the S&P
Value Index since Dec. 2000. We remain in the growth stock camp longer term with
the premise that declining interest rates and better year over year mathematical
comparisons will ultimately fuel the higher growth stocks higher,” he
added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Dow gained 165.32 to 10,946,the Nasdaq
added 18.66 to 2489.63, and the S&P 500 gained 15.55 to 1330.31.
Top sectors included biotechnology
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Sectors under pressure were chemicals
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services
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News from Celera Genomics
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complex that previously thought helped rekindle the biotech and genome space.
Celera jumped 6.15 to 47.75 on nearly quadruple average volume.
Also winning in biotech were Gilead Sciences
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Pharmaceuticals
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Overall market bellwether General Electric
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which helped both the Dow and the S&P 500. GE has long been a good place to
look for the market’s overall health since it is such a giant amalgum of many
different economic sectors.
Joining GE at the top of the Dow were Wal-Mart
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2.6%.
Among standouts on the Net, Monster.com parent TMP Worldwide
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53 13/16 following an upgrade from U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray.
Looking ahead, the January retail sales numbers which will be released Tuesday at 8:30 AM ET. Analysts expect a 0.3%
increase, and that should help indicate to what extent the tech swoon has hurt
consumer confidence.