Rate Cut Odds
The markets are in sell mode this morning as Wall
Street speculates on tomorrow’s FOMC meeting. The Internet and oil service sectors
have managed to stay positive, while the rest of the market is underwater. The
Computer Hardware and Japan indexes have been hit hardest.
Market breadth is negative, with NYSE down-volume
standing out with a 2:1 dominance over up-volume.
With no economic reports scheduled to be released
today, the financial community is focusing on the Federal Reserve meeting where
the Fed Funds pit at the Chicago Board of Trade has given a 25-basis-point cut a
90% chance of happening. This would be the 11th cut in 12 months.
Hewlett-Packard’s
(
HWP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) largest shareholder, the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation which
owns 10% of its shares, announced it will veto the proposed merger with Compaq
Computer
(
CPQ |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating). HP is down 2.55% to 22.92, and Compaq is down 12.01% to 9.96.
Still working its way through financial disaster,
Enron’s
(
ENE |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) trading operations have been bid for by
Citigroup
(
C |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and UBS Warburg. Enron is up 13.33% to 0.85, and
Citigroup is down 1.73% to 48.36.
Leading sectors today are the CBOE Internet
Index
(
$INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up
1.14% at 141.89, and the Oil Service Sector Index
(
$OSX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up
0.11% at 80.08.
The biggest losing sectors today are the
Computer Hardware Index
(
$HWI.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.73% at 167.65, and the
Japan Index
(
$JPN.X |
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News |
PowerRating), down 2.15% at 112.50.
From our percent gainers list:
Halliburton Company
(
HAL |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is up 18.33% at
14.20 on 65 times average volume. This oil well services and equipment company
made up for Friday’s steep decline when it announced its insurance
company will pay for the asbestos claims.
UICI
(
UCI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is up
10.53% at 12.60 less-than-average volume. This health insurance company has no
news reported.
Transportación MarÃtima Mexicana, S.A. de C.V.
(
TMM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is up
6.02% at 8.80 on over 100% average volume. This water transportation
company announced Friday it has completed the $25 million funding for a securitization program to
improve financial flexibility.
From our percent losers list:
Protein Design Labs Inc
(
PDLI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is down
17.36% at 31.36 on over 65 times average volume. This
biotechnology and drug company had disappointing results in the tests for an experimental drug for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
JAKKS Pacific Inc.
(
JAKK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is down
15.29% at
20.67 on over three times average volume. This toy company was downgraded
by Bank of America Securities to Market Perform from Buy.
ANADIGICS Inc.
(
ANAD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is down 12.49%
at 16.05 on over 100% average volume. This semiconductor company
announced it expects earnings for the first quarter to come in at a loss of 0.38 to 0.42
cents, lower than the 0.36 consensus by analysts.