Something For The Bulls To Feed On
Stocks
are in positive territory at mid-day, with technology issues leading
the charge. The trend of low volume and lack of news continues for the week,
though the day is only half over. Tomorrow retail data will be released, which
could be a market mover.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +0.26% at 8,596.55 The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is
 +0.42% at 908.22. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is  +0.69% at 1,400.33.
Current leaders are Internet
(
$INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.47%, networking
(
$GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.23%, and
healthcare
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.87%.
Leading to the downside are
airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.94%, oil service
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-0.76%, and retail
(
$RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.73%.
There is no economic news for
the day.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +100 at 114 095.
The Dollar is -0.13 at
105.27.
Volume is at 600,246,000
on the NYSE, and 768,406,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is mostly
positive, with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of
1.23, and up volume over down volume by a 1.25 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues
over advancing issues are at 1.08, and up volume over down volume is at a 2.21
ratio.
Leading the Dow higher are:
Eastman Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.22% at 38.16, General
Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.02% at 26.45, Du Pont
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+2.30% at 43.99, International
Business Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.33% at 81.87, Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.29% at 54.71, and AT&T Corp.
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.35% at 27.00.
Stocks in
the news:
Oil service company
Schlumberger
(
SLB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.08% at 44.88, announced that it will eliminate
1,600 jobs, taking a $2.9 billion charge of $4.96 per share.
Household products maker
Procter & Gamble
(
PG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.76% at 86.98, announced that it will pay $5.5
billion for the German pharmaceutical maker Beiersdorf, a division of Allianz.
Home builders Toll Brothers
(
TOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.25% at 19.73, beat its fourth-quarter earnings expectations by
$0.04 with profits of $0.93 per share.
Insurance company WellPoint
Health
(
WLP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.91% at 71.05, was upgraded by Prudential to “buy” from
“hold.”
Business products maker
Kimberly-Clark
(
KMB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.36% at 46.80, lowered its fourth-quarter
earnings guidance to a range of $0.72-$0.76 vs. previous estimates of
$0.82-$0.86.
Food processing company Sara
Lee
(
SLE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -5.34% at 21.82, was downgraded by Prudential to “hold” from
“buy.”
In the chip sector, Andy Grove
of Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.89% at 18.29, said that he has not yet seen a
resurgence in demand for his company’s product.
Financial stocks are under
pressure after Merrill Lynch
(
MER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.22% at 40.31, announced more
job cuts, and Bank of America
(
BAC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.62% at 68.95, announcement
that it will pay $1.6 billion for a 24.9% stake in the third largest bank in
Mexico, Santander Central Hispano.