Here’s The Bright Spot In Today’s Market
The
major indices are mixed today. A worse-than-expected jobs report has
the Dow and S&P in the red. Meanwhile the Nasdaq turned green after early
session losses, thanks in part to Intel’s increased third-quarter revenue
estimates. The chip giant now expects third-quarter revenue’s between 7.6
billion to 7.8 billion compared to its previous forecast of 7.3 billion to 7.8
billion. The semiconductor index broke out to a 15-month high after breaking
resistance at the 459 level. The notion of a jobless recovery continues as
although the unemployment rate fell to 6.1% from July’s 6.2%, the market did not
like the 93,000 non farm payroll losses. Manufacturing payrolls continued to
decline, suffering a worse-than-expected loss of 44,000 jobs while
service-producing industries shed 67,000 positions, but construction added
19,000. Bonds are trading higher for the third consecutive session after recent
lows.Â
Today’s
market indices:
   The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.37% at 9551.69
   The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),Â
-0.05 at 1028.57Â
   The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.26% at 1879.56
Today’s
leading sectors:Â
   Semiconductors
(
$GSM.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.97%Â
   Airline
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.90%Â
   Multimedia NetworkingÂ
(
$GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.36%Â
   Gold and Silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.43%Â Â Â Â
   Disk Drive IndexÂ
(
$DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2701%.
Today’s weak
sectors:
   S&P Retail Index
(
$RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),Â
-.99%Â
   Morgan Health Provider
(
$RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.95%Â
   Natural Gas
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),Â
-0.42%Â
   Utility Sector
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),Â
-0.23%
   OilÂ
(
$OIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),Â
-0.20%.
Economic
News:
In economic news, the US
economy saw a slight decline in the unemployment rate to 6.1% vs. consensus at
6.2%. Wall Street is focusing on a surprising loss of 93,000 jobs last month.
Though recent data is signaling an acceleration in economic activity, the
expansion in the output of goods and services has yet to create new jobs in the
economy. Hourly earnings came in at .1% vs. expectations of .3%. Average
workweek came in slightly under expectations at 33.6 vs. 33.7.
Key Futures:
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +1060 at 110 200.
The dollar is -0.90 at
97.37.
Gold is -5.0 at 379.00.
Crude Oil -0.02 at
28.96.
Volume is 799,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,140,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by 1.02, and up over down
volume by 1.14. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 1.03, and up
volume over down volume at 2.04.
Top Dow stocks:
AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.64% at 22.86Â
Merck
(
MRK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.06% at 51.14Â
Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +.97% at 28.87Â
Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +.47% at 44.62Â
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +.28% at 28.51
Stocks in the news:
AMR Corp.
(
AMR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
moved up 5% after receiving an upgrade to “equal weight” from “underweight” from
Lehman Bros. Lehman Bros. believes the industry has the possibility to show
continued revenue momentum.
Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
advanced more than 1% after it raised the lower range of its previously
announced 3Q guidance to between $7.6 billion and $7.8 billion from $7.3 billion
to $7.8 billion, and above the Street’s projection of $7.57 billion.
Eli Lilly
(
LLY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reiterated 3Q guidance for earnings of $0.65-$0.67 per share, in line with First
Call estimates, while the company projects full-year EPS of $2.55-$2.60.
PeopleSoft
(
PSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating):
During a conference call late Thursday company officials said they plan to cut
about 750 to 1,000 jobs and buy back up to $350 million of its common stock from
the public market before the end of 2003.
If you have any comments or
questions, please feel free to email me.
vincentm@tradingmarkets.com