Here’s Market’s Near-Term Picture …
Stocks followed through Thursday with
techs and biotechs leading a broad charge spanning diverse sectors. The major
indexes pulled back from their highs but managed to end in the middle of their
trading ranges.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.3%, the
Dow Jones industrials 0.3%.
Among the sectors, the Amex Biotech
Index
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2.9%, the Amex Internet Index
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Semiconductor Index
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Products Index
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On the downside, the S&P Insurance
Index
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0.7%.
The positive action was accompanied by
profit taking in some stocks. Jim Lacamp, senior vice president at Dain Rauscher,
is positive on the market, but the pullbacks are a sign to him that the market
may be in for a pause and a bit of digestive volatility.
“So far, all this looks
pretty positive, but I think the close today showed that we might be temporarily
out of gas,” Lacamp said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see a two-day
quiet period in the market while some traders become afraid to buy because we
had two pretty good days in the market. A lot of stocks that broke out the last
couple days of were closing kind of heavy in the ranges. A lot of small,
out-of-the-way names break out and run. On the mid-cap side, Ralph Lauren
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closed heavy in its range.”
Lacamp also advised to keep your eye
on the markets leaders, not the market’s past leaders. “We’re not seeing
the Texas Intstruments
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assert any leadership,” he said. “It’s coming from newer areas as
you’d expect in a newer bull market.”Â
Among the biotechs and drugmakers,
Gilead Sciences
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Pharmaceuticals
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Retek
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a low cup-with-platform on powerful volume. The Minneapolis-based provider of
retail industry software said before Thursday’s open that it expected Q2 profits
to exceed Wall Street estimates.
B2B play Exelon
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17.9%.
Ballard Power Systems
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jumped 17.0% on fast trade. Shares in the fuel cell maker responded to President
Bush’s plan to offer credits for companies that use new energy technologies.
On the downside, Citigroup
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up 2.1%. The financial giant said it will buy Mexico’s No. 2 banking group Grupo
Financiero Banamex-Acciva for $12.5 billion in stock and cash.
Ciena
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gate but succumbed to selling to finish off 3.7% despite Street-beating results
reported before the open. The maker of fiber-optic gear said adjusted net
income, excluding its Cyrus acquisition and payroll taxes on stock option
exercises, rose to 20 cents a share vs. 6 cents a share in the year-ago period
and First Call’s consensus estimate of 16 cents.
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