Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Todd Gold, Technical Strategist, Gruntal
& Co.: “We’re still bullish on the Nasdaq Composite to 4475 in the near
term. Certainly this weakness in the semiconductor stocks is going to make it a
little difficult for some near-term upside, but we think that select
semiconductor stocks still look good. We would be avoiding the semiconductor equipment stocks at this time and concentrating on Intel, IRF,
IDTI, and even Micron towards $75, we would be aggressively buying the stock. We’re still bullish on the group from an intermediate-term perspective, although we do recognize the possibility for some short-term weakness.
“The Nasdaq Composite really showed some resilience yesterday by
bouncing back after Mr. Greenspan’s comments. We had a slight over-reaction to
the downside two days ago when we broke 4075 support, but we did hold the May
uptrend line at 4054 and that’s encouraging to us that we held that level. So
the near-term support level we are going to be concentrating on at this point
for the Nasdaq Composite is 4054, and should we violate that level, we do see
the potential to move back down to the lower end of the potential for a move
back down to the lower end of the recent trading range around 3800, although we
view that as unlikely.”
Robert Robbins, Chief Investment
Strategist, The Robinson-Humphrey Co.: “I would say that the summer rally
has reached my 10% objective. My best estimate was that it would go a little
higher. Historically, summer rallies, as measured from the April/May low to the
June/July/August high go about 10.4% on average for the past several decades.
“We got about 12% at the recent high, so that’s pretty much in the
ballpark. Statistically, on that basis alone, it could have been the high, but I
think it will probably go a little higher. Of course there is still another five
or six weeks left in what’s typically the summer rally time frame, so you could
still do it, although we’re well into the period where you’ve got to watch out
for a top.”
Robin Griffiths, Chief Technical Analyst,
HSBC: “Mr. Greenspan came out with a favorable comment that got the market
up yesterday, and he virtually promised a soft landing. He said he would deliver
it. But why we are boiling over now is because markets are actually driven by
people, and people go on holiday. Therefore, it isn’t going to follow through in
a big way right now, however, longer-term the trend is very favorable.
“I think what will happen is that we’ll be dullish for a month, and then
when we come back from holiday, we’ll run up to and through the presidential
election. The likely outcome of the election is basically bullish. Of the four
possible outcomes, only a Democratic President plus a Democratic Congress would
be a bearish outcome for the stock market. Any other combination of Democratic
and Republican outcomes are neutral to bullish.”
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