Here’s What Happened To The Dow’s Picture

September 25, 2003
Vincent Mao

Stocks
are slightly in the green after a volatile morning. A higher open was
quickly aborted after Eastman Kodak cuts its annual dividend by 80%. Mixed data
on the economic front also has traders scrambling for direction. The first batch
of economic releases this week revealed the first drop in durable orders since
April. This decline was also the largest drop since September of 2001. Weekly
jobless claims fell last week and came in under the 400K level. However the data
could have been affected by Hurricane Isabel. Meanwhile the housing sector
continues to remain strong as sales of new homes rose at the second-fastest pace
since June. Existing home sales jumped to a new record. After yesterday’s sell
off, stocks looked to continue its decline. The Dow is under-performing both the
S&P and Nasdaq as it is weighed down by a 13% drop in Eastman Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). The
blue chip index managed to turn things around after finding support near the
9361 level given yesterday.

In economic news, August
Durable Orders fell 0.9% vs. expectations for a 0.6% rise. Initial
Jobless Claims came in at 381K vs. an expected 400K. Existing Home Sales
in August came in at 6.47 million vs. expectation of 6.05 million. New Home
Sales came in at 1150K vs. 1123K.

The 10-year U.S. Note
is +080 at 113 055.

The dollar is -0.02 at
94.05.

Gold is -1.60 at 387.00.

Crude Oil +0.19 at
28.43.

Volume is 845,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,200,000,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by 1.31 and down over up volume
by 1.19; Nasdaq declining issues over advancing issues at 1.19, and down volume
over up volume at 1.19.

Top Dow stocks are:

Stocks in the news:

Bed Bath & Beyond
(
BBBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is higher by 3.5% after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly
results and raised its full-year outlook. For its second quarter the company
earned 32 cents a share compared to 25 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.
The results topped consensus estimates by a penny. Revenues rose 28.7% to $97.2
million. Looking ahead, the company now sees full-year results coming in at
$1.25 a share compared to its prior forecast of $1.23.

Business outsourcing company
Bisys Group
(
BSG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is lower by 20% after the company warned of an
earnings shortfall. Due to softness in its life insurance, education, and
retirement businesses, the company now sees earnings of 15 cents a share for its
fiscal quarter ending Sept. 30. This is 7 cents below current consensus
estimates.

Software maker Cognos
(
COGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is higher by 4% after the company reported a second-quarter profit that topped
estimates. Due to strong sales of its business intelligence software the company
earned 20 cents a share or 2 cents better than estimates. Revenues rose 22.6% to
$158.2 million. For its third quarter, the company sees revenues between $170 to
$172 million and earnings of 24 to 25 cents a share.

NCR Corp.
(
NCR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
higher by 11% after Merrill Lynch upped its rating on the bar code scanner
maker. Merrill raised its rating from “neutral” to “buy”.

Film and imaging giant
Eastman Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is lower by 12% after the company slashed its annual
dividend from $1.80 to 50 cents a share. The company said that the dividend
reduction will give it more “financial flexibility” as it shifts away form film
products to digital products.

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

Vincent Mao

vincentm@tradingmarkets.com

Here’s What Happened To The Dow’s Picture

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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