Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Alan Ackerman, Market Strategist,
Fahnestock & Co.: "The market continues to be mixed at the moment.
Pressure on the technology sector may slow overall as a result of two very
difficult days which Nasdaq had that saw the Nasdaq fall back into negative
territory for the year-to-date. Essentially, what we’re looking at is a market
where each day is a new adventure. Rotation in the market continues to be very
rapid, and we’ve come out of a positive August and headed into September, which
in most cases is the cruelest month of the year. It would actually not be
surprising to see a little more wringing out of the excesses in the technology
sector before technologies get their second wind."
"Conversely, the plus for the market right now is that the Fed appears
done for the moment and that productivity continues up. We saw the fastest gain
in productivity since 1989 just the other day, and that’s keeping unit labor
costs down. There are those who believe that a slowdown in the overall economy
is likely to foreshadow a cut in capital spending, but I do not believe there
will be a real dent of any significance in that area. On balance, I would
continue to be looking to buy the techs on the dips."
Dennis Jarrett, Chief Market Analyst,
Jarrett Investment Research: "What we have today is sort of a reversal of
what we’ve experienced during the last couple days. The technology stocks have
rebounded whereas the Dow and some of the old economy stocks that had been doing
so well have started to pull back. So far, this is not a rally to be trusted in
technology. The initial rallies never are, so we’ll see how is goes over the
next couple days. But just be a little suspicious because this is not
bargain-hunting time yet in technology."
John Roque, Vice President, Arnhold and
S. Bleichroeder, Inc.: "The Nasdaq cannot close above its 4290 July high
unless Cisco closes above 70. The continued inability of Cisco to close above 70
in June, July, August, and now September, tells us something is rotten in the
state of CSCO. We’ll let the pros figure out what is awry, but for our money,
CSCO must hold above 60. A close under 60 would result in risk for CSCO to the
May low of 50 and risk for Nasdaq to the May low of 3042.66."