The Waiting Game
More analyst downgrades in tech and more Presidential uncertainty made for a
dreary day for stocks Tuesday, but the major averages did manage to avoid a
full-scale selloff and finish mixed. The Dow and S&P 500 rose 0.3% while the
Nasdaq eased by 0.2%.
Nasdaq volume was about flat with Monday’s level, as 1.73 billion shares
traded. NYSE volume picked up by about 6%, with 1.11 billion shares changing
hands.
“There’s some serious damage being done to this market. Yesterday, it
was Morgan Stanley that really threw in the towel on a lot of things, and we’re
finally starting to see everything unwind,” said Arnie Owen, Managing
Director of Equities, Cruttenden Roth.
“We’re starting to see all of the downgrades, all of the earnings
expectations cut, and this pendulum, too, shall swing too far in the opposite
direction. We saw it happen on the upside, and we’re watching it happen on the
downside. Valuations and expectations just got out of whack, and I think we’re
starting to see the underpinnings put it place for a good rally,” he added.
According to preliminary numbers, the Dow rose 31.85 to 10,494.50, the Nasdaq
slipped 4.19 to 2871.45, and the S&P 500 gained 4.71 to 1347.33.
Top performing sectors were gold and silver
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biotechnology
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Weakest sectors were telecom
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down 4.7%, and Internets
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Lucent
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hammered the stock which fell 3 3/8 to 17 9/16. That is the lowest Lucent has
closed since June of 1997.
In the dying Internet sector, Yahoo!
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two-year low. Negative comments from Mary Meeker, who was once known as the
Queen of the Internet, helped trip-up Yahoo!.
Top Dow stocks were Boeing
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Caterpillar
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included Coca-Cola
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Looking ahead, this week’s economic news is light because of the Thanksgiving Day
holiday, but on the horizon is the October existing home sales report due out next Monday at 10:00 AM ET.