Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Robert Wibbelsman, Portfolio Manager,
Strome Investment Management: “I think we’re in the grips of a surprising
hit in the over-the-counter market, and the speed with which it came down the
10% or so this month suggests that even if you get a bounce, it probably has
further to go. Usually when they start out this quickly, they have
longer-lasting troubles. I don’t know what the spook for this is. I don’t know
what triggered this. Bonds have become lousy, and I just don’t know what
triggered the selloff other than a continuation of the correction that started
in March.
“We went down and had a low volume kind of limping rally during the
summer, and people came back from Labor Day and started to look at downward
change and rate of change of earnings. There were more surprises, and more
companies blowing up and things like that, and I guess that was the catalyst to
sell.”
John Roque, Vice President, Arnhold and
S. Bleichroeder, Inc.: “Looking at the semis, has there been a group more
loved over last year than this one? Probably not. And because it’s so loved, the
stocks will continue to work lower. Bottoms don’t usually form until there is
some sea change from a sentiment point of view and, from what we’re gathering
anecdotally, there is still a tremendous reluctance to admit that anything is
even remotely wrong with the sector. But there’s got to be something wrong
because percentage changes in magnitude of some of the individual names in the
group don’t usually occur unless the jig is up.”
Paul Rabbitt, President,
RabbittAnalytics.com: “We gave a sell recommendation several weeks ago and
the markets corrected. This is an expected bull-market correction created by
excessive optimism which will set-up a good trading entry point for a year-end
rally. Risks are still heightened as we continue to move into the high-risk
period where companies will be pre-announcing their third quarter earnings. So
far, downward earnings pre-announcements have been running ahead of the pace set
during the last few quarters.”