Has The Pullback Begun?
Stocks
are modestly lower this midday, but off session lows. After rising
for the last five out of six weeks, the major indices are starting off the day
on a weak note. Following Friday’s reversal after the jobs reports, a warning
from Motorola and downgrades in the telecom and software arenas are putting some
selling pressure in stocks. Nearly all sectors are in the red — the only green
on my screen comes from gold and health providers. Prior leaders such as
biotechs, airlines, semiconductors, and housing are the biggest losers of the
day. Bonds are higher today after a two-day pullback. Both gold and the Dollar
are slightly weaker today.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
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PowerRating) is -0.36% at 9,029.81. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
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PowerRating)
is -0.74% at 980.38. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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PowerRating) is -1.06% at 1610.07.
The day’s leading sectors are
Health Providers
(
$RXH.X |
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PowerRating), +0.31%, UtilitiesÂ
(
$UTY.X |
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PowerRating),
+0.25%, and Gold
(
$XAU.X |
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PowerRating), +0.05%.
Weak today are Biotechs
(
$BTK.X |
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PowerRating), -3.99%, Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
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PowerRating), -2.60%, Disk Drives
(
$DDX.X |
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PowerRating), -2.23%, Semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
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PowerRating), -2.26% and
HousingÂ
(
$HGX.X |
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PowerRating), -1.92%.
In economic news, Wholesale
Inventories for April came in at -0.1% versus +0.2%.Â
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +110 at 119 145.
The dollar is -0.24 at
93.32.
Gold is -1.70 at 362.80.
Crude Oil +0.47 at
31.76.
Volume is at 609,000,000
on the NYSE, and at 976,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.81, and down
volume over up volume by a 2.84 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues at 1.90, and down volume over up volume is at a 2.78 ratio.
Top Dow stocks are:
IBM
(
IBM |
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PowerRating), +1.77% at 81.47,
AT&T
(
T |
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PowerRating) +1.65% at 19.69, Microsoft
(
MSFT |
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PowerRating) +0.80% at 23.86,
Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
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PowerRating) +0.66% at 53.10, and Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
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PowerRating)
+0.63% at 54.16.
Stocks in the news:
Accredited Home Lenders
(
LEND |
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PowerRating) is higher by 9% on more than quadruple its average volume. The
mortgage company upped its second-quarter and full-year estimates due to
strength in the mortgage business. Accredited sees second-quarter results
between $1.20 to $1.25 from $0.80 to $0.90 a share. Full year forecasts are now
between $3.50 to $3.75 from $2.25 to $2.50.Â
Checkpoint Software
(
CHKP |
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PowerRating)
is lower by 5% on heavy volume. CS First Boston downgraded the security software
company from “neutral” to “underperform” due to valuation basis. CS First Boston
also believes that the company will also lose market share to Netscreen
(
NSCN |
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PowerRating)
and Cisco Systems
(
CSCO |
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PowerRating).Â
Freddie Mac
(
FRE |
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PowerRating) is
lower by 13% on heavy volume. The shares are under heavy selling pressure after
several management changes; its chief operating officer was fired, chief
financial officer resigned, and chief executive officer resigned.
Motorola
(
MOT |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) is
lower by 4.5% on heavy volume. The company warned that due to the outbreak of
SARS and excess inventories, its second-quarter and full-year results will be
below previous estimates. Motorola now expects second-quarter results excluding
one-time charges to come in at breakeven compared to previous estimates of 3 to
5 cents. Revenues are now expected between $6 billion to $6.2 billion, down from
$6.4 billion to $6.6 billion.Â
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
(
REGN |
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PowerRating) is higher by 2.20% on more heavy volume. Banc of America
upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral”. The firm based the upgrade on
Regeneron’s VEGF Trap drug. Â
Veridian
(
VNX |
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PowerRating) is
higher by 25.95% on extremely heavy volume. General Dynamics
(
GD |
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PowerRating) offered to
buy the company for $35 a share. Â