Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Brian Conroy, Head of Listed Trading,
J.P. Morgan: “The pre-announcements in some banks today has taken the bank
index down about 4%. You also have tech still under some pressure after a nice
run. It feels to me like the market wants to continue to consolidate before it
tries to go higher, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it trips lower over the next
day or two. But I think it’s healthy. It’s healthy that we do this after the nice
up move we had. Going forward, there will probably be some more optimism because
of the Presidential situation getting some clarity. You’re kind of waiting
through the middle of pre-announcement season, and very soon people will begin
to get confidence that the worst is over. So those will all be good
things.”
John Roque, Vice President, Arnhold and
S. Bleichroeder: “We’re supposed to use the sentiment charts as a contrary
opinion indicator. For example, if the bullish advisory is high, then we should
be cautious. And if bearish advisory is low, then we should be cautious. Vice
versa, too. So we think we have a handle on the market at present and then we
see that the most recent figures released by Investors Intelligence Chartcraft
show that the % of bullish advisors has not been this high since the second week
of April 2000, and the % of bearish advisors has not been this low since late
July 1999. Go figure!”
Brian Belski, Fundamental Sarket
Strategist, U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray: “During the month of November 2000,
money funds exhibited net inflows of $50 billion. We continue to believe that
this cash stashing will provide buying support for the market over the next
several weeks. In addition, if our ‘informal poll’ of money market cash
positions is correct, with an average of 7% to 8%, then diversification into
stocks will likely have to take place to keep pace.”