Intel Warns…Here Are The Details

Stocks ended the day higher
despite a
mixed bag of economic data.
The Nasdaq lead the pack. 

The revised figure for Q2 Productivity came in at 2.5% vs. consensus of 2.7%.
Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended August 28th rose by 19,000 to 362K.
Estimates were calling for claims to fall to 340K. However, jobless claims were
impacted by hurricane Charley.  Factory Orders for July rose 1.3%, slightly
better the consensus of a 1.1% rise.

Same store sales for August rose 1.2% vs.
expectations of 2.2%. This was the smallest rise in 17-months. Retailers are
facing tougher challenges this year stemming from the likes of: higher energy
prices, Hurricane Charley, and the calendar shift pushing Labor Day sales into
September. After lowering their same store sales forecast last week, the nations
largest retailer, Walmart
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warned that its third quarter results
would be in the low end of its forecast. Despite this, the retail index
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was the best performing sector today, up 2.79%.

Microsoft
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is fractionally
higher after the company opened its online music store, MSN
Music
. In an effort to challenge Apple’s iTunes service, MSN Music will also
charge $0.99/song with more than 500,000 titles to choose from. Unlike iTunes,
where the songs can only be played back only on Apple’s iPod, songs downloaded
from MSN Music can be played back on more than 70 devices that supports the
Windows Media format. Shares of Apple
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fell 0.52%. 

Tomorrow we will have the all important jobs data
for August. 

As Hurricane Frances gets closer to the Florida
coast, more than 1 million people have been evacuated. Hurricane Frances is
predicted to be twice as strong as Hurricane Charley. Property and casualty
issues 21st Century Holding
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and Converium
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were down 7.7% and 10.5% respectively.

Intel
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is down 8.04% in after
hours trading. The world’s largest chip maker lowered both its Q3 revenue
estimates and profit margin. Intel now sees Q3 revenues coming in between $8.3
to $8.6 billion. Previously, the company forecasted revenue between $8.6 to $9.2
billion. Profit margins are now expected at 58% compared to an earlier forecast
of 60%. 

Dow +121.82 10290.28
S&P 500 +12.40 1118.31
Nasdaq +23.02 1873.43

Strong today are: Retail
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+2.79%, Disk Drives
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+2.46%.

Weak are: Gold & Silver
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-0.87%, Oil Services
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-0.04%.

10-year Notes are -140 at 113 055

The dollar
is +0.10 at 89.02

Gold is -2.80 at 406.50

Crude Oil is +0.90 at
44.90

Volume is 1.2 billion on
the NYSE and 1.1 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is positive.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 2368 Up Vol 931
Declining 920 Down Vol 166
Ratio 2.57 5.60
Nasdaq
Advancing 2019 Up Vol 920
Declining 1004 Down Vol 242
Ratio 2.01 3.80

Stocks in the News

Costco
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reported August sales that missed estimates; the stock is trading down 3%
pre-open. Retail will be in focus as several companies — including WMT, S, BJ,
DDS, MAY, LTD, ANF and FDS — reported sluggish same store sales for August.

WalMart
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cut its Q3 forecast.

American Eagle
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bucked the
retail trend, reporting a large increase in same store sales. The stock is
trading up pre-open.

The first of several lock up periods ends for Google
[ OOG|GOOG].

Vincent Mao