Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Charles Payne, President,
WallStreetStrategies.com: “A lot of it looks to me like capitulation in the
blue chips which began a little bit over a week ago. The irony of the whole
thing is that the would be safe havens have actually been the large-cap tech
stocks. The Nasdaq 100 has been the strongest index this week. It’s exhibiting
the most strength today, and I think this is a normal course of events. Early in
the week, a lot folks were looking for a lot of volume in terms of selling
associated with tech stocks, but I disagree with that because tech stocks have
been under pressure for a year.
“At this point a lot of investors who have been hurt aren’t going to
sell. You own a stock at 100 and it’s at ten, then you’re just not going to sell
no matter what. You’re resigned, perhaps, to take a loss, but that’s an issue
you will address later in the year for tax purposes. Right now though, the only
place that there could be a lot of volume and selling is in the blue chips, and
that’s what we’re seeing right now.”
John Roque, Vice President, Arnhold and
S. Bleichroeder: “No capitulation yet. The peak Nasdaq volume was 3.1
billion on Jan. 3, 2001, the average volume since then has been 2.1 billion and
yesterday’s was 2.1 billion. Make no mistake about it, there’s been a lot of
selling, but it just hasn’t been capitulative ‘bid wanted’ type selling. It
would also help if we saw a sell-side strategist from a high-profile firm throw
in the towel and switch from bullish to bearish.”