Soggy Open
Stocks are set for yet another soggy open on the heels of Alan Greenspan’s
tepid testimony Wednesday on Capital Hill.
Traders are waiting for the release of the National Association of Purchasing
Managers index which id due out at 10:00 AM ET. Analysts expect a 42% reading.
Again showing signs of economic weakness, new jobless claims rose to 372,000
which were an increase of 24,000 over last week.
The Dow futures are down 19 points, and the Nasdaq futures are down 37
points.
The S&Ps look to open down 6 points while the yield on the 10-year
Treasury is down to 4.88%.
Thursday Movers
Shares of Broadcom
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PowerRating) are set for a negative open following a
downgrade from Merrill Lynch. Broadcom closed Wednesday at 49 1/4 and is
trading down to 44 in pre-market activity.
Verisign
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PowerRating) surrendered control of the .net and .org suffixes in
order to maintain control over the .com businesses, and that news is giving the
Net security company a boost. Verisign closed Wednesday at 47 31/32 and is
currently trading up to 51 in pre-market activity.
One tech leaning positive is Newport Corp.
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PowerRating) which is currently
trading up to 48 3/8 following a Wednesday close of 47 7/8. Newport was added to
the S&P mid-cap 400 Index at the close Wednesday.
PMC Sierra’s
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PowerRating) slide continues as the former high-flier is trading
down to 32 following an 18-month low close of 33 1/2 on Thursday. PMCS had
traded as high as 246 1/4 as recently as September.