The Numbers To Watch Tomorrow
Stocks
were in rally mode Wednesday, following through on the upside after yesterday’s reversal,
and closing at the highs of the day. Positive economic
data as well as Merrill’s upgrade of Microsoft
(
MSFT |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Merrill’s
addition of Wal-Mart to their “Focus 1” list sparked broad-based buying today.
Breadth was very positive.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
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PowerRating) is +101.89 at 9,142.84 The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
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PowerRating)
is +11.43 at 993.75. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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PowerRating) is +38.64 at 1678.77.
The day’s leading sectors were Disk Drives
(
$DDX.X |
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PowerRating),
+6.22%, Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.03%, Computer Hardware
(
$HWI.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.40%,
and Networking
(
$NWX.X |
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Chart |
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PowerRating),
+3.58%.
Weak today were Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.17%, Gold
(
$XAU.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.45, and Energy
(
$DXE.X |
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Chart |
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PowerRating), -0.03%.
In economic news, Factory
Orders in May jumped 0.4% versus an expected flat reading. Tomorrow’s
initial claims report would be one to watch for as many expect claims to come in
below the critical 400K level.
The 10-year U.S. Note
was +035 at 117 130.
The dollar was -0.25 at
94.40.
Gold was + 0.10 at
351.70.
Crude Oil +0.05 at
30.20.
Volume was
1,457,989,000
on the NYSE, and 1,850,887,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive
on the NYSE and on the Nasdaq, with NYSE advancing issues over declining
issues by a ratio of 3.34, and up volume over down volume by a 4.37 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining issues at 2.71,
and up volume over down volume is at a 7.18 ratio.
Top Dow stocks were:
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.73 at
26.88, Intel
(
INTC |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.81 at 22.22, AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.70 at
19.88, SBC Communications
(
SBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.57 at 26.60,and International
Paper
(
IP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.82 at 36.89.
Stocks in the news:
Benchmark Electronic
(
BHE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
traded higher after the company backed its second quarter estimates.
Benchmark said that they expect to meet or beat consensus estimates of $443
million in revenues and earnings of 44 cents per share. The company will
announced the results on July 24th.
Hollywood Entertainment
(
HLYW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is higher by 1.5% after the company upped its second quarter
estimates. The DVD and video game rental retailer raised its forecast to at
least 29 cents a share or a penny higher than previous estimates. Consensus
estimates had been around 29 cents a share.
Invitrogen
(
IVGN |
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News |
PowerRating)
rose after company announced that it will acquire privately held
Molecular Probes for $325 million in cash. Molecular Probes is a developer of
fluorescence technology based in Eugene Oregon.
Netflix
(
NFLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gained after the online DVD rental service announced a
71% increase in membership. The company ended its second quarter with 1.15
million subscribers.
Baxter International
(
BAX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fell after the company announced that they
will take a second quarter charge of $200 million or 30 cents a share. The
charges are due to severance costs for 2500 employees as the company is closing
26 plasma collection plants.
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) traded higher
on a Merrill Lynch upgrade from
“neutral” to “buy”. Merrill based the upgrade on the Microsoft’s potential
upside earnings surprise as well as a possible rise in its quarterly dividends.
Vince Mao