Here’s Why The Market Is Reacting Well

April 3, 2003
Daniel Beighley

The
major indexes held narrow trading ranges for a session that ended
with slight losses. Price action moved sideways throughout the day, with a sharp
sell off into the close. The day’s main focus was once again Iraq, as coalition
forces prepared for what appears to be an entry into Baghdad. Though Iraqi
forces do not seem to be putting up much resistance, there remains a sense of
uncertainty as to whether or not Saddam Hussein is even alive, or possibly in
another country. Markets do not typically react well to uncertainty, though this
market continues to hold ground on the momentum of the troops. The Dow and
S&P are parked just under their 200-day simple moving averages, while the
Nasdaq has been trading above this mark for over two weeks. Tomorrow’s
pre-market will be a biggie for traders with the March employment data to be
released.

In economic news, initial
claims came in at 445K vs. expectations of 410K, and ISM Services
came in at 47.9 vs. expectations of 52.5.

The Ten Year NoteÂ
was +060 at 114 090.

The US dollar was +0.23
at 100.78.

Volume was average,
with the NYSE coming in at 1,324,527,000
and the Nasdaq at 1,451,117,000.

Market breadth was mostly
negative, with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of
1.22, and down volume over up volume by a 1.57 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues
over advancing issues came in at 1.04, and up volume beat down volume by a 1.72
ratio.

The
VIX
was+1.05 at 32.34. The TRIN
was +0.89 at 1.28.

Weakest in the Dow were:

Stocks in the news:

Personal computer maker Dell
Computer
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.06% at 28.67, announced that it intends to meet its
first-quarter earnings of $0.23 per share as it continues to achieve double
digit sales growth from year to year.

Retailer Christopher &
Banks
(
CBK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +8.49% at 20.06, rallied after the company beat
expectations with same store sales up 15% from a year ago.

Book seller Borders Group
(
BGP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.72% at 14.30, sold off after issuing a profit warning for the
fiscal first-quarter. the company said that traffic decreased due to conflict in
Iraq.

Capital goods company SPX
Corp.
(
SPW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -6.22% at 31.95, was downgraded by Prudential to
“hold” from “buy”.

Biotech firm Sepracor
(
SEPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-0.31% at 15.92, was upgraded by Merrill Lynch to “buy” from
“neutral”.

Software company Business
Objects
(
BOBJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +9.81% at 18.90, was upgraded by CSFB to
“outperform” from “neutral”.

Business services company
Moody’s Corp.
(
MCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.87% at 45.93, was downgraded by Merrill Lynch to
“neutral” from “buy”.

Computer networking company Cerner
Corp.
(
CERN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -45.06% at 18.39, reduced its first-quarter guidance, and
now expects to earn between $0.13-0.15 vs. a consensus of $0.38.

Software company Cognos Inc.
(
COGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.74% at 25.32, beat its fourth-quarter earnings by $0.06 with
profits of $0.33 per share.

Retailer Bed Bath &
Beyond
(
BBBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.17% at 36.25, beat its fourth-quarter earnings by
$0.02 with profits of $0.35 per share.

Financial services company H&R
Block
(
HRB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -9.74% at 40.03, was downgraded by Goldman Sachs to “underperform”
from “in-line”.

danielb@tradingmarkets.com

Here’s Why The Market Is Reacting Well

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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