Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Tim Heekin, Director of Trading, Thomas
Weisel Partners: "The path of least resistance is up. Although I’m not a
political analyst, I think that when the Presidential election gets resolved and
if Mr. Bush is put in that there will be a nice spike rally off of that. I think
that that rally probably ought to be sold. I think the market will come in for
maybe a couple days after that, but I think that that will be a buying
opportunity. The Nasdaq has still been the under-performing index, and I think
people are starting to look at tech companies again.
"Even with announcements like Advanced Micro this morning, people are
still looking to put some money into some of the beaten up tech stocks. There’s
a tremendous amount of short covering going. If you take a look at the telecom
sector, for example, I think there’s massive short covering going on in Lucent,
Motorola, and Global Crossing. I think the underpinnings of the market are good
technically, and I think short covering is a good underpinning as well."
Alan Ackerman, Market Strategist,
Fahnstock & Co.: "The market’s rally mode of late is interpreted by
some as a Santa Claus Rally, by others as a Bush Rally, and by still others as a
Bear-Trap Rally. One thing is for sure, and that is that the market continues to
swing widely on a moment’s notice. Because of the swing in this market, it could
well be called the Benny Goodman Market."
Buzzy Geduld, President, Herzog Heine
Geduld: "In a few words, we’ve got a mixed market, very light volume, and
everybody’s waiting. Just watching and waiting."