Holding Tight
The markets held tight ranges
today as all three major averages seesawed their way to losses. Gold and silver,
airline, and Mexico-related stocks made the top gains, with oil service, energy,
telecom, and Japan-related stocks leading the losers.   Â
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 0.49%Â to
10,427.67.
The S&P 500
(
$SPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down
0.42%
to 1,148.70.
The Nasdaq [$COMPQ |$COMPQ] closed down 0.93% to 1851.39.
Today’s business headlines were
dominated by disappointing corporate news, with no economic reports released.
Next week will be flush with economic data as existing home sales, consumer
confidence, GDP-final, and Chicago PMI will be reported.
Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 1.36, and down-volume
over up-volume by a 1.42 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing issues
came in at 1.32, and down-volume beat up-volume by a 1.32 ratio. The
VIX
was down 0.36 at 19.62. The TRIN
was up 0.05 to 1.04.
Below average volume on the
session saw the Dow and the S&P 500 move and close below their recent
consolidations, as the Nasdaq held a range between its 50- and 20-day MAs. The Semiconductor
Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 1.15%, traded in a narrow range just above its
20-day MA. The Broker/Dealer Index
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.90%, moved
closer towards its 20-day MA.
Top
sectors of the day were the Gold
and Silver Index
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 3.44% at 67.86,
and the Airline Index
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 3.10% at 105.04.
Losing
sectors of the day were the Oil Service Index
(
OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 4.97% at 97.96,
and the Deutsche Bank Energy Index
(
$DXE.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.61% to 415.97.
Chip maker Micron
Technology (MU),
-0.61 at 33.90, announced a loss of 5 cents a share for the second quarter for
its fifth consecutive loss. Analysts polled by Thompson Financial/First Call
were looking for a loss of 4 cents a share.Â
Computer handheld specialist Palm Inc (PALM),
+ 0.70 at 3.87, said that it earned 1 cent a share for the first quarter,
beating breakeven results of a year ago.
Oil services company Baker-Hughes
(
BHI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.55 at 36.75, was
down after the company lowered its earnings expectations for the first quarter,
citing weakness in North American drilling activity.Â
Footwear retailer Nike
(
NKE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 3.70 at 59.50, fell after
announcing Thursday that sales for March through July would be less than the
same time period last year. The company also reported earnings grew 30% for its
fiscal third quarter.
Networking company 3Com
(
COMS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.14 at 5.58, gained after
announcing a smaller than expected “pro forma” loss for its fiscal
third quarter.
Dow component Hewlett-Packard
(
HWP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 0.35 to 18.15 after
a report from Dow Jones claimed the company’s profits from its services unit
were tracking well below its expectations for the current quarter.
Chip maker NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)
rose 0.43 to 48.56 after Merrill Lynch defended the company against concerns
that it will not meet earnings estimates due to competition from Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
down 0.81 at 30.59, and ATI Technologies Inc
(
ATYT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.28 at 12.88.
Biotechnology company Biomet (BMET)
fell 3.93 to
27.53 after the company announced earnings of 23 cents a share to record an 11%
rise in quarterly earnings. The company was one of the biggest point losers on
the day.
Restaurant company McDonald’s
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 1.05 at 27.65, reported
that profits will come in lower than expected for the first quarter and for the
rest of the year.