Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Alan Ackerman, Market Strategist,
Fahnstock & Co.: “The market is nasty and negative, and there seems to
be no relief from earnings jitters. Because of this, the Nasdaq in particular is
the brunt of some serious selling. We had some Cisco shock earlier this week,
but whether it’s Lucent or Dell, there are few indications of any real strength
in the technology sector for now. I think realistically it will be a quarter or
two before these companies can get back in gear earnings wise. Much will depend
on how quickly the U.S. economy recovers and what the Fed may do. Greenspan, as
you know, is giving his Humphrey Hawkins testimony on Tuesday.”
Andy Madoff, Director of Nasdaq Trading,
Madoff Securities: “There’s broad weakness and very few bright spots today.
It’s a very blah day. In the absence of any good news, stocks are just drifting
lower. It’s as simple as that. There’s no good reason for them to go up, so
because of that they’re just going down. It feels to me like it’s just more of a
lack of good news.”
Brian Belski, Fundamental Market
Strategist, U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray: “This week there were equity fund
outflows of $2.7 billion, which marked the first week of outflows since Jan. 3,
2001. Roughly 77% of that amount, however, was from international and global
equity funds. Because of the international dominance, we believe evidence of
heavier outflows from domestic equity funds over the next few weeks would be
needed to reverse the trend of positive equity inflows.”