Should You Take A Clue From The Microsoft CEO?
Stocks
were slightly higher Friday. One day ahead of the long weekend, most
sectors were green, and bonds continued their assault
to new highs. Homebuilder shares soared, and the Dollar fell again and broke the $1.18
per Euro level. The Senate approved the tax cut by a 51-50 margin. Equity funds
had outflows of $1.4 billion for the week ended May 21 compared with $300
million in the prior week, per Trim Tabs. Microsoft
(
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PowerRating) CEO Steve
Ballmer said he was selling some of his 471 million Microsoft shares for personal
reasons. MSFT rose 0.06 to 24.22.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
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PowerRating) gained 7.36 at 8,601.38. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
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(
$COMPQ |
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at 1510.09.
The day’s leading sectors were
Utilities
(
$UTY.X |
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(
$XNG.X |
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+2.47%, and Biotechs
(
$BTK.X |
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PowerRating), +2.55%.
Weak today were Retail
(
$RLX.X |
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PowerRating), -0.95%, Pharmaceuticals
(
$DRG.X |
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PowerRating), -0.55%, Health
Providers
(
$RXH.X |
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PowerRating), -0.53%, and Insurance
(
$IUX.X |
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PowerRating),
-0.36%.
No economic news today.
The 10-year U.S. Note
was +005 at 118 260.
The dollar was -0.58 at
93.13.
Gold was +0.70 at 368.80.
Crude Oil +0.31 at
29.16.
Volume was at
1,203,628,000
on the NYSE, and at 1,428,959,000
on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.95, and up
volume over down volume by a 1.83 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues were over
declining issues at 1.41, and up volume was over down volume is at a 1.89 ratio.
Top Dow stocks were:
Boeing
(
BA |
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AT&T
(
T |
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(
SBC |
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PowerRating), +0.95 at
25.15, Eastman Kodak
(
EK |
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PowerRating), +0.75 at 30.28, and Altria Group
(
MO |
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PowerRating), +1.26 at 42.31.
Stocks in the news:
ICN Pharmaceuticals
(
CLE |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) was higher on heavy volume. The Wall Street Journal reported
that the company is planning to take legal action to recoup compensation that
was wrongfully taken by company executives. ICN’s founder, Milan Panic, is among
those targeted.
Marvell Technology
(
MRVL |
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PowerRating) was higher on very heavy volume. Excluding charges, the
company reported first quarter results that beat estimates by 2 cents. The
company also sees full-year revenues between $760 to $790 million, compared with
analysts’ estimates of $724 million.
Autodesk
(
ADSK |
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PowerRating) was
lower on more than double its average volume. The software company reported first quarter results of 7
cents a share compared to 15 a share during the same period a year ago. Autodesk
did manage to beat estimates by 2 cents, however, the company also lowered
second quarter estimates to between 7 to 10 cents a share compared to analysts’
estimates of 13 cents a share.
The Gap
(
GPS |
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lower after it reported that profits surged to 22 cents a share from
just 4 cents a share from the same period a year ago. The Gap also beat
estimates by a penny.
Lucent Technologies
(
LU |
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PowerRating) was lower after Merrill Lynch downgraded the telecom giant
from “buy” to “neutral” after the shares hit their $2.50 price target. After its
recent rally, Merrill sees limited upside potential.
Qualcomm
(
QCOM |
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PowerRating) was
lower after SG Cowen downgraded the company from “outperform” to “market
perform” based on increasing competition, slow subscriber growth and high
inventories.