Semi-Painful
Another downgrade in the chip sector helped trigger a sharp selloff in the
Nasdaq despite a very favorable second-quarter productivity report. DLJ
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its rating on Micron
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hill. The Index sank throughout the day, finishing down 3.1% at its low of the session. The S&P 500 lost 1.0%, but the Dow managed to hold on to a 0.4% gain.
Rumors of a possible buyout of J.P. Morgan
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financials early in the session, but most of those gains evaporated toward the
close. J.P. Morgan ended the day up 7 13/16 to 164 1/2 and was the main reason the
Dow finished up for the day.
Volume picked up by about 6% over Tuesday’s levels, as 1.73 billion shares
traded on the Nasdaq and 998 million shares changed hands on the NYSE.
“The main story today is the Nasdaq and chip stocks. The SOX
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been bouncing around between 900 and 1200, just put in a good bounce after
falling pretty sharply, and now it looks like it wants to go test its most
recent low,” said Scott Bleier, Chief Investment Strategist, Prime Charter
Limited.
“I think the Nasdaq has some more work to do, and it looks like we are
going to break 4000 on the Comp. I think for the Nasdaq, we are going to
actually make a higher bottom in the overall Nasdaq index during the first half
of this month, at which time we will put in another rally to see if we can get
through our old recent trading-range high of about 4200 or 4250,” he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Nasdaq fell 129.79 to 4013.39, the
S&P 500 slid 14.82 to 1492.26, and the Dow hung on to a 50.03 point gain, to
close at 11,310.64.
Top sectors included oil services
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$OSX.X |
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up 1.9%, and integrated oils
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On the downside were Internets
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$GIN.X |
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down 5.2%, and semiconductors
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$SOX.X |
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Semiconductors under pressure were Micron
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MU |
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down 9%, Xilinx
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7%.
Avoiding the swoon in technology was Qualcomm
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close up 2 15/32, or 4.1%, to 61 27/32.
Dow gainers, in addition to J.P. Morgan, were Boeing
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BA |
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Technologies
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UTX.X |
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DIS |
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Dow losers were Intel
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C |
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Coca-Cola
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KO |
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Looking ahead, economic news for the rest of the week remains light, with
jobless claims on Thursday and consumer credit on Friday.