Is The Coast Clear With This Stock?
Stocks
are slightly lower mid-day, as market players fill their last orders
for the year. Volume is exceptionally light, with little news-wise to spark a
clear and dominant bias. With continued fears over Iraq and North Korea,
defensive issues are once again in favor.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is -0.16% at 8,319.88. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is -0.46% at 875.32. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is -0.09% at 1,338.36.
Leading to the upside are
airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.81%, biotechnology
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.99%, and healthcare providers
(
$RXH.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.94%.
The biggest losers are
networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.79%, banks
(
BKX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.57%, and
utilities
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.42%.
In economic news, consumer
confidence came in at 80.30 vs. a consensus of 86.0.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +030 at 115 115.
The Dollar is -0.06 at
102.40.
Gold is +3.1 at 347.20.
Crude Oil is -1.20 atÂ
30.60.
Volume is at 444,726,000
on the NYSE, and 519,018,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.38, and up
volume over down volume by a 1.08 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues are at 1.16, and up volume over down volume is at a 1.04 ratio.
Leading the Dow lower are: Phillip Morris
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-3.14% at 40.09, which had its earnings estimates cut by Morgan Stanley to $4.65
per share from $4.75 per share; American Express
(
AXP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.48% at
35.05; International Paper
(
IP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.33% at 34.64; Microsoft Corp.
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.15% at 52.14; Intel Corp.
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.88% at 50.18;
and DuPont Corp.
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.94% at 41.91.
Stocks in the news:
Conglomerate Tyco
(
TYC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+14.20% at 17.53, has released the results of its internal investigation, and
reports no evidence of accounting fraud. Lehman Brothers has given the company a
clean bill of health.
Goldman Sachs has been active
in the retail sector today, as it raised fourth-quarter estimates on JC
Penney
(
JCP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.22% at 22.84, to $0.65 per share from $0.60 per share,
and lowered fourth-quarter estimates for Federated Department Stores
(
FD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-0.14% at 28.04, to $1.90 per share $1.95 per share, and May’s Department
Stores
(
MAY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.39% at 23.02, to $1.25 per share from $1.28 per share.
The Wall Street Journal
reports that a consolidation in the software industry may be taking place due to
recent acquisitions by International Business Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.28%
at 77.99, Yahoo!
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.6% at 16.49, Veritas
(
VRTS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.68% at 15.76, Cognos Inc.
(
COGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)-1.37% at 23.10, and Sybase
Inc.
(
SY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). Potential takeover targets cited were BEA Systems
(
BEAS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.66% at 11.64, Citrix Systems
(
CTXS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.71% at 12.46, Legato
Systems
(
LGTO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.59% at 4.93, and Netegrity Inc.
(
NETE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.27% at 3.18.