Here’s The Sweetest Candy Of The Year

October 31, 2003
Vincent Mao

Halloween, the time of the year when ghosts
come out to do some spooking. That didn’t happen this month as the Dow is
pushing past 9800 on a rising consumer sentiment index of 89.6. Blue chips are
leading the day as the Nasdaq is closing in on 2000. Healthcare insurer
Cigna
(
CI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) got a pat on the back from Smith Barney as they upped price
targets to $61. CI posted a third-quarter net income of $195 million compared
with a loss of $877 million a year ago, citing improving health care
margins. Oil giant ChevronTexaco
(
CVX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) released third-quarter
earnings of $1.98 billion vs. $904 million a year ago. Investors buoyed up the
stock 2% as Wall Street had estimated earnings to be $1.62 a share, higher than
the $2.02 that was earned.

Economic releases today
included Personal income at 0.3%, Personal Spending, down 0.3%, Mich
Sentiment-Rev, up to 89.6 , Chicago PMI, at 55.0. Help Wanted Index for
September was unavailable at the time of writing.

10-year Bonds are +600
at 112 045.

The dollar
is +0.37 at 92.83.

Gold is +11 at 3855.

Crude Oil is +0.27 at
28.74.

Volume is 630,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 890,000,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by 1.32 and up over down volume
by 1.92; Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 1.07, and down volume
over up volume at 1.11.

Top Dow stocks are:

Stocks in the news:

Technology product distributor
Ingram Micro
(
IM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) improved on higher demand in Europe as it posted a
third-quarter profit on declining revenue. Net income was $81.2 million compared
to a net loss of $8.3 million. $70 million of the gain was based on a favorable
tax ruling. Excluding tax benefit and restructuring costs, IM earned 9 cents a
share, well ahead of previous forecasts of 5 cents a share.

American Power Conversion
(
APCC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted third-quarter profits of $55.8 million on revenue of $393.7
million. APCC was able to reduce COGS by $5 million on lower recall
costs. Excluding the gain, it earned 26 cents a share, beating the 21 cents Wall
Street estimated. Following the news, Adams Harkness and Jefferies & Co
upgraded its ratings, causing shares to rise 14%.

Houston-based power company
Reliant Resources
(
RRI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced that it will record a non-cash charge
of about $1 billion in the third quarter to reflect impairment related with a
previously announced review of its wholesale energy segment. Majority of the
goodwill is associated with the acquisition of Orion Power Holdings from Goldman
Sachs
(
GS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).

Google, the world’s most
popular search engine, has announce that Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has been
attempting to create a merger or buyout of their firm. In recent weeks, Google
has been involved in discussions with multiple Investment Banking firms in
launching an IPO. The deal when completed would be worth $20 billion. Google
founders are in favor of using an auction type of IPO where investors would
directly bid for shares.