Look What’s Continuing To Rebound
Stocks are
slightly higher this midday with the
major indices looking for their fifth straight day of gains. Stocks shook off
earlier weakness from the dollar which fell to an almost three-year low against
the yen. However, a weaker dollar does help US corporations to compete abroad.
No major economic releases today, but upgrades in McDonald’s
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Advanced
Micro Devices
(
AMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and Altera Corporation
(
ALTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) are sparking some
buying interest.
All three major indices are
within 1% of their Sept. 19 highs. Pepsico
(
PEP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) kicked off the
third-quarter earnings season today as the beverage giant reported a 13% rise in
quarterly earnings. After the close today, Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is scheduled to report
and is rading down by 1.3%. Bonds are reversing yesterday’s gains and are lower
for the last three out of four sessions. Meanwhile, gold continues to rebound
after last week’s sell off; its next level of resistance comes in at around the
$380 level.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +0.20% at 9614.39. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is +0.03% at 1034.70. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +0.31% at 1899.44
The day’s leading sectors are
Gold Bugs
(
$HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.79%, Gold & Silver
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.63%, Networking
(
$GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.55%, Semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.33%,and Healthcare
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.32%.
Weak today are Disk Drives
(
$DDX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.85%, Internet Commerce
(
$ECM.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.12%,
Utility
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.81%, Health Products
(
$RXP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-0.77%,and Pharmaceuticals
(
$DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.75%.
No economic releases today.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is -170 at 112 140.
The dollar is -0.68 at
92.12.
Gold is +4.00 at 377.30.
Crude Oil is -0.12 at
30.35.
Volume is 639,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,000,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by 1.05 and down over up volume
by 1.16; Nasdaq declining issues over advancing issues at 1.01, and down volume
over up volume at 1.13.
Top Dow stocks are:
McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.95% at 24.57,
Wal-Mart [WMT|WMT],
+0.66% at 58.37, Walt Disney [DIS|DIS],
+0.65% at 21.34, Procter & Gamble
(
PG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.51% at 94.49, and Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.33% at 35.93.
Stocks in the news:
Adult higher education provider
Apollo Group
(
APOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is lower by 1.75% despite better-than-expected
quarterly results. Due to strong enrollment as well as the opening of four new
campuses, the company reported fourth-quarter earnings of 37 cents a share
compared to 26 cents in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had been looking for 34
cents a share. Looking ahead, the company sees fiscal 2004 earnings of $1.64 or
just a penny shy of consensus estimates.
Chip maker Altera
(
ALTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is higher by 4.4% after UBS upgraded the stock from “neutral” to “buy”. The firm
cited that the recent 25% decline since its Sept. 9 high “has created a buying
opportunity”.
Discount airliner JetBlue
(
JBLU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is higher by 1.6% after the company announced at 3-for-2 stock
split. The split will take place on Nov. 20 to shareholders of record on Nov.
10. In a press release, JetBlue CEO, David Neeleman, said, “The three-for-two
split reflects our confidence in the company’s future growth prospects”.
Dow component McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is higher by 2.2% after Smith Barney upgraded the world’s largest fastfood
chain from “neutral” to “buy”. Smith Barney also raised its price target from
$24 to $30.
If you have any comments or questions, please
feel free to email me.
vincentm@tradingmarkets.com