Here’s A Number To Remember

Stocks are
lower this midday.
After staging the
biggest one-day rally since June, the major averages are pulling back slightly.
Stocks are relatively quiet after yesterday’s big gains and more
worse-than-expected economic data. First time jobless claims came in higher than
expected under the 400K level, which is the dividing line between job growth and
job loss. Economists are expecting the unemployment rate to rise to 6.2% from
6.1% in August.

The Dow Jones Industrial
Average

(
$INDU.X |
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is +-0.10% at 9459.06. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
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is -0.25% at 1015.64. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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is -0.45% at 1823.72

The day’s leading sectors are
Biotechs
(
$BTK.X |
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, +2.43%, Airlines
(
$XALX.X |
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,
+1.47%, lnternets
(
$GIN.X |
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, +0.97%, Telecom
(
$IXTCX.X |
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,
+0.72%,and Health Products
(
$RXP.X |
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, +0.72%.

Weak today are Disk Drives

(
$DDX.X |
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, -3.56%, Software
(
$GSO.X |
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, -1.25%,
Computer Boxmakers

(
$BMX.X |
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, -1.07%, Oil
(
$XOI.X |
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,
-0.60%, and Banks
(
$BKX.X |
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, -0.44%.

In economic news, Initial
Jobless Claims
came in at 399K compared to an expected 395K. Factory
Orders in August
fell by 0.8% compared to an expected drop of 0.5%.

The 10-year U.S. Note
is -165 at 114 035.

The dollar is unchg at
92.70.

Gold is -1.30 at 383.70.

Crude Oil is +0.42 at
29.81.

Volume is 765,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,000,000,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by 1.14 and up over down
volume by 1.38; Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 1.07, and up
volume over down volume at 1.03.

Top Dow stocks
are:

Alcoa

(
AA |
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, +1.76% at 27.16, Caterpillar
(
CAT |
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,
+1.41% at 72.35, Mcdonalds
(
MCD |
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, +1.32% at 24.53, United
Technology

(
UTX |
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, +1.26% at 80.89, and Home Depot
(
HD |
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, +1.03%
at 33.23.

Stocks in
the news:

Dow component Caterpillar

(
CAT |
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is higher by 1.254% after CSFB commented that the company is in
position to win a government order for power generation in Iraq. The firm also
said that if Caterpillar does get the order, it could boost there 2004 earnings
by at least 25%.

Online DVD rental company
Netflix

(
NFLX |
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is higher by 6.5% after the company announced that its
third-quarter subscriber growth grew by 74% from the prior year’s level. Despite
rising competition from Wal-Mart
(
WMT |
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and Blockbuster Entertainment
(
BBI |
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,
the company now has 1.29 million subscribers. Approximately 96% of the
subscriber base consists of paying customers.

Network communications company
UTStarcom
(
UTSI |
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PowerRating)
is higher by 9.3% after the company raised its
third-quarter and full-year outlook. Due to better-than -xpected growth in its
Chinese business segments, the company now sees third-quarter revenues between
$570 to $580 million. This is up from its previous forecast of $495 million to
$505 million. Earnings for the third quarter are now estimated to be 44 to 45
cents a share compared to its previous forecast of 42 to 43 cents a share.
Full-year revenues are now expected at $1.93 billion to $1.94 billion and
earnings are now expected at $1.55 to $1.56 a share.

CTI Molecular
(
CTMI |
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PowerRating)

is lower by 11.50% after the company lowered its fourth-quarter and full-year
profit outlook. Due to lower shipments of its medical scanners, pricing
pressures, and transaction delays, the company now sees fourth-quarter results
of 11 to 13 cents a share compared to current consensus estimates of 20 cents a
share. Full-year results are now estimated at 44 to 46 cents a share compared to
estimates of 53 cents a share.

KVH Industries
(
KVHI |
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PowerRating)

is lower by 4.2% after the communications company warned of a “break-even to
modest loss” in its third quarter and only “modest profit” for its fourth
quarter. The company cited lower-than-expected military revenues for the
projected short fall.

If you have any comments or questions, please
feel free to email me.


Vincent Mao

vincentm@tradingmarkets.com