The Speculation Begins…
The markets shot off the bell
this morning, then drifted lower to mid-day consolidations, with an afternoon
rally bringing the Dow and the S&P 500 to slight losses, and the Nasdaq to a
slight gain. Gold and silver, Internet, and the oil service sectors led the
pack, with the Japan-related, networking, and computer hardware issues in the
red.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 0.27%Â to
10,577.75.
The S&P 500
(
$SPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed down 0.05%
to 1,165.55.
The Nasdaq [$COMPQ |$COMPQ] closed up 0.46% to 1877.06.
With no economic data released
and business headlines relatively quiet, traders braced for tomorrow’s FOMC
meeting where the speculation has turned to the likelihood of an interest rate
hike.
Market breadth was slightly
positive, with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.27,
and up-volume over down-volume by a 1.40 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over
advancing issues came in at 1.22, and up-volume beat down-volume by a 1.02
ratio. The
VIX
was down 0.02 to 20.75. The TRIN
was up 0.54 to 1.11.
Below-average volume held the
Dow and the S&P 500 in their current trading ranges, as the Nasdaq moved
above, though closed below, its 50-day MA. The Semiconductor Index
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 0.99%, closed at the bottom if its daily range. The Broker/Dealer Index
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.17%, closed at the bottom of its range in a
“doji” formation.
Top
sectors of the day were the Gold
and Silver Index
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
up 4.61% at 64.78,
and the CBOE Internet Index
(
$INX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 3.19% at 123.33.
Losing
sectors of the day were the Dow Jones Equity REIT Index
(
$DJR.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.04% at 157.07,
and the Japan Index
(
$JPN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 1.39% to 121.17.
Software company Network Associates Inc.
(NET),
down 0.23 at 27.38, announced its intention to buy the 25%
that it doesn’t own of McAfee.com Corp. (MCAF),
up 3.95 at 19.49. In a $208.2 million deal, Network Associates would pay 0.675
of its shares for each of McAfee’s Class A shares.
Drug company Johnson & Johnson (JNJ),
up 0.71 at 65.31, announced that their drug-coated stent developed to open
clogged arteries continues to safely prevent re-clogging a year after being
implanted.
Broadband company Qwest Communications
(
Q |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up 0.44 at 9.12,
adjusted its $4 billion unsecured bank-credit agreement so available cash will
be able to cover its growing debt payments over the next 12 months, as well as
fund its capital and operating expenses.Â
Semiconductor company Micron Technology
(
MU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.19 at 33.20,
traded down over speculation that the company is near a conclusion in its
proposal to buy assets from the South Korean chip maker Hynix Semiconductor.Â
Networking company Nortel Networks
(
NT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.41 4.65, sold off
after Credit Suisse First Boston cut its financial forecasts for 2002 and 2003.
Wireless company AT&T Wireless
(
AWE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 0.11at 9.04, was
down on a downgrade from JP Morgan who cited heavy expenses due to an upgrade in
the company’s network.
From TM’s Proprietary
Implosion List, Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp
(
ELBO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), down 2.60 at
31.40, fell on over four times average volume. There was no news on the stock.