The Question On Everyone’s Minds
The
major indexes took a breather today, as price action moved mostly
sideways in a choppy session that lacked news. After a huge move like we’ve had
the past couple days, it’s typical to see some consolidation, though the
question now on everyone’s mind is, “Is this breakout for real?” And the truth
is, no one knows. Now that we’ve had a high volume move through key resistance,
it’s hard to argue the bearish side of the market. Next week we have key data
coming out including GDP, home sales, consumer confidence, and PMI, so it should
provide some good tests of sentiment. Volume is also expected to be light for
the Thanksgiving holiday.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed -0.45% at 8,804.84. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
closed -0.34% at 930.55. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed +0.08% at
1,468.73.
The biggest winners were
networking
(
$NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.62%, utilities
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+3.10%, and healthcare
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.59%.
The day’s big losers were in
oil service
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.99%, chemicals
(
$CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.91%, computer hardware
(
$GHA.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.83%, and oil
(
$OIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.47%.
There were no economic releases
today.
The 10-year U.S. Note
was -065 at 112 210.
The Dollar was +0.35 at
106.28.
Volume was above average at
1,577,909,000 on the NYSE, and
1,956,922,000 on
the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was slightly
positive, with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of
1.24, and up volume over down volume by a 1.00 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues
over declining issues came in at 1.19, and up volume beat down volume by a 1.05
ratio.
The
VIX was -0.64 at 26.73. The
TRIN was +0.61 at 1.11.
Leading the Dow were: Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +4.80% at 34.00, Eastman Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.50% at 37.23,
and Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). +1.10% at 48.55.
Lagging The Dow were: United
Tech
(
UTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.40% at 63.62. Du Pont
(
DU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.40% at
43.10, and General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.38% at 37.58.
Stocks in
the news:
Doughnut kingpin Krispy
Kreme Doughnuts
(
KKD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.27% at 38.90, beat its third-quarter earnings
estimates by $0.01 with profits of $0.17 per share.
In the software sector,
PeopleSoft
(
PSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -4.94% at 19.99, and Siebel
(
SEBL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.92% at 8.75, were downgraded by Salomon smith Barney to “underperform” from
“in-line.”
Also in the software sector,
Serena
(
SRNA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.54% at 18.85, beat its third-quarter earnings
estimates by $0.02 with profits of $0.18 per share, and Agile Software
(
AGIL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+19.16% at 9.08, posted a smaller-than-expected loss for the second-quarter.
Supermarket companies had a
good day after Salomon Smith Barney upgraded the following stocks to
“overweight” from “under weight”: Safeway
(
SWY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.21% at 23.41,
Albertson’s
(
ABS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.92% at 23.93, and Kroger
(
KR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.90% at
15.95.
Medical equipment supplier
Guidant
(
GDT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +6.77% at 32.00, rose after a company study showed that
cardiac-resynchronization therapy can reduce mortality rates for heart-failure
patients.
media giant AOL Time Warner
(
AOL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.53% at 15.89, was up after the company’s board approved a
turnaround plan that includes new content initiatives, pricing, and marketing
ideas.
Apparel retailer Fool Locker
(
Z |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.07% at 12.72, rose after an upgrade from Merrill Lynch to “buy” from
“neutral” based on valuation.
Computer storage company
Brocade Communications
(
BRCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -27.47% at 5.28, reported earnings after
the bell yesterday that matched expectations, though warned that its
first-quarter numbers will miss current Wall Street targets.
Communications services company
Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.57% at 40.00, had coverage initiated on it by Deutsche
Securities with a “sell” rating.
Oil services company
Schlumberger
(
SLB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.86% at 43.50, was upgraded by JP Morgan to
“overweight” from “neutral.”