Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Richard Dickson, Chief Technical Analyst,
Scott & Stringfellow: “It looks like we are continuing a little bit of
the profit-taking after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates. The market had
gotten a little ahead of itself, particularly the Dow, and we are still seeing a
little of the disillusionment with the technology stocks. I guess some worries
are surfacing now about the second and third quarters and what that holds. So,
it’s kind of normal profit taking at this point in time. It actually looks like
it’s healthy because intermediate term the market still is in good shape. It’s
just that short term, maybe we got a little ahead of ourselves in terms of the
positive impact of the Fed rate cut. By and large, I see this pullback as
healthy, and it’s probably serving to prolong the rally rather than end the
rally that started in January.”
John Roque, Vice President, Arnhold and
S. Bleichroeder: “We’re looking at the breakout in the transportation
index. The width of the base suggests a target of 3500 to 3600. We’ve
highlighted the breakout here in the weekly chart knowing full well that
breakouts aren’t working that well at present. However, the breakout is too
important to ignore and we think the action is compelling enough to begin
building positions and would use pullbacks to complete these positions. On the
daily chart, the transports are at a one-year high with upward-sloping five- and
200-day moving averages.”
Brian Belski, Fundamental Market Analyst,
U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray: “Equity funds reported inflows of $3.6 billion,
which marks the fourth week in a row of inflows exceeding $1 billion. Of this
money, 86% of equity fund inflows went into the growth sector. We believe that
as the fundamental variables of declining interest rates begin to affect how
investors make decisions, the declining yields in money market funds
will force a reallocation of funds into predominantly equity-driven
investments.”