Here’s What Could Make This Afternoon Interesting
The major indexes have been moving higher throughout the session,
as price action extends yesterday’s rally. Earnings season continues with upside
surprises from Centex and Beazer Home helping home builders, and Career
Education Corp. giving education stocks a nice boost. In the minus column, oil
and energy stocks are down slightly ahead of tomorrow’s OPEC meeting. This
afternoon could get stirred up with the 2-year Treasury Note auction results to
be released. The results of this auction will give the market a an indication of
the direction of future long-term interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +0.27% at 8,508.03. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is +0.78% at 918.46. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +1.03% at 1,466.36.
Biggest winners are airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.04%, telecoms
(
$XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.82%, and
biotechnology
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.39%.
Biggest losers are oil
(
$OIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.35%, natural gas
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.76%,
and networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.26%.
In economic news, the Fed’s
beige book is due at 2:00.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is -030 at 113 310.
The dollar is +0.23 at
99.22.
Gold is +0.30 at 333.90.
Crude Oil -0.40 at
30.47.
Volume is at 795,252,000
on the NYSE, and at 943,833,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.47, and up
volume over down volume by a 2.32 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues are at 1.32, and up volume over down volume is at a 2.69 ratio.
Biggest gainers on the Dow are:
AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+17.60% at 16.24, SBC Communications
(
SBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.49% at 21.33, JP
Morgan
(
JPM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.19% at 29.15, Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.74% at
19.33, Walt Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.64%, Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.64% at 16.09, and Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.41% at 56.88.
Stocks in the news:
Drug maker Wyeth
(
WYE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+13.01% at 40.57, is up sharply after beating its first-quarter earnings
expectations by $0.02 with profits of $0.54 per share.
Media giant America Online
(
AOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.26% at 14.01, is up after reporting a first-quarter profit of
$0.09 per share. The company also said it expects to meet its earnings targets
for the year.
Steel giant United States
Steel
(
X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.89% at 13.50, was upgraded by Merrill Lynch to “buy” from
“neutral”. Â
Online auctioneer eBay
(
EBAY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+4.74% at 93.45, beat its first-quarter earnings estimates by $0.04 with profits
of $0.36 per share. The company has also guided higher for 2003.
Software company PeopleSoft
(
PSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.17% at 15.05, beat its first-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.01 with profits of $0.12 per share. The company also guided slightly lower
for the second-quarter.
Aerospace and defense giant
Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.15% at 28.12, beat its first-quarter earnings
expectations by $0.18 with profits of $0.42. The company has also guided in line
for the rest of the year.
Communications company AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +17.60% at 16.24, beat its first-quarter earnings by $0.15 with profits
of $0.67 per share.
Photography giant Eastman
Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.54% at 29.58, met its earnings expectations for the
first-quarter. The company has guided lower for the seocnd-quarter, though
believes it will meet its full year expectations.
Education company Career
Education Corp.
(
CECO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +10.95% at 58.48, beat its first-quarter
earnings expectations by $0.05 with profits of $0.40 per share.
Home builders Centex
(
CTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+8.25% at 64.19, beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by $0.28 with
profits of $3.12, and has guided higher for 2004.
Also in the home builders
sector, Beazer Homes
(
BZH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.19% at 70.41, beat its second-quarter
earnings by $0.03 with profits of $2.83 per share.
Restaurant company
Californian Pizza Kitchen
(
CPKI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -13.28% at 20.70, has been downgraded
by CIBC to “sector underperform” from “sector perform” and PF Chang’s
(
PFCB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-2.44% at 40.47, has beat its first-quarter earnings by $0.01 with profits of
$0.26 per share. The company has also guided higher for the rest of the year.
Beverage giant PepsiCo
(
PEP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.42% at 42.90, has been upgraded by Deutsche Bank to “buy” from “hold”.
Biotech and drug company
Pharmaceutical Resources
(
PRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.24%a t 46.49, beat its fourth-quarter
earnings by $0.07 with profits of $0.67 per share.
Credit rating company
Moody’s
(
MCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.96% at 22.09, beat its first-quarter earnings by $0.05
with profits of $0.55 per share. The company has also guided higher for 2003.
Chip stock ATMI
(
ATMI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-2.69% at 22.09, has missed its first-quarter earnings by $0.01 with profits of
$0.05 per share.
Also in the chip sector,
Vitesse Semiconductor
(
VTSS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.41% at 2.85, posted a loss of $0.05
per share, which was in line with estimates.
Paper and paper product maker
Georgia Pacific
(
GP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.86% at 14.62, has been downgraded by
Prudential to “sell” from “hold”.
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