This Could Be Critical For The Markets
The
markets are mixed midday as price action moves mostly sideways. With
coalition forces on the outskirts of Baghdad, tension has built up for what many
believe to be the critical fight of the war, and potentially a critical juncture for
the markets. Many traders are sidelined to stay out of any unexpected
market-moving news. This week’s jobless claims number came in worse than
expected, though tomorrow will be the release of the key monthly data.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is -0.10% at 8,276.87. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is -0.20% at 879.16. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is +0.25% at 1,400.16.
Biggest advancers are
biotechnology
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.11%, Internet
(
$MOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.82%, and computer hardware
(
$HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.69%.
Biggest decliners are
airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.07%, oil service
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.93%, and transportation
(
$TRAN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.21%.
In economic news, initial claims came in
at 445K vs. expectations of 410K.
The 10-year U.S. Note
is +080 at 114 110.
The dollar is +0.20 at
100.75.
Gold is -3.60 at 326.00.
Crude Oil +0.12 at
28.75.
Volume is at 688,586,000
on the NYSE, and at 807,047,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is mostly
negative, with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of
1.04, and down volume over up volume by a 1.15 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues
over advancing issues are at 1.07, and up volume is over down volume by a 2.05
ratio.
Strongest in the Dow are:
Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.19% at 16.50, Altria
(
MO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.97% at
30.53, General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.22% at 27.38, Honeywell
(
HON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.21% at 22.61, and Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.87% at 25.94.
Stocks in the news:
Personal computer maker Dell
Computer
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.13% at 28.97, announced that it intends to meet its
first-quarter earnings of $0.23 per share as it continues to achieve double
digit sales growth from year to year.
Retailer Christopher & Banks
(
CHS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.72% at 21.93, rallied after the company beat expectations with
same store sales up 15% from a year ago.
Book seller Borders Group
(
BGP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.45% at 14.34, sold off after issuing a profit warning for the
fiscal first quarter. the company said that traffic decreased due to conflict in
Iraq.
Capital goods company SPX
Corp.
(
SPW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -5.22% at 32.29, has been downgraded by Prudential to
“hold” from “buy”.
Biotech firm Sepracor
(
SEPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+3.19% at 16.48, has been upgraded by Merrill Lynch to “buy” from “neutral”.
Software company Business
Objects
(
BOBJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +10.63% at 19.04, has been upgraded by CSFB to
“outperform” from “neutral”.
Business services company
Moody’s Corp.
(
MCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.54% at 46.09, has been downgraded by Merrill
Lynch to “neutral” from “buy”.
Computer networking company
Cerner Corp.
(
CERN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -42.69% at 18.39, has reduced its first-quarter
guidance, and now expects to earn between $0.13-0.15 vs. a consensus of $0.38.
Software company Cognos Inc.
(
COGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +7.00% at 25.38, has beat its fourth-quarter earnings by $0.06 with
profits of $0.33 per share.
Retailer Bed Bath & Beyond
(
BBBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.47% at 36.00, has beat its fourth-quarter earnings by $0.02 with
profits of $0.35 per share.
In the pharmaceutical sector
Johnson & Johnson
(
JNJ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -1.85% at 57.33, has received FDA approval for
its drug Remicade, and AstraZeneca
(
AZN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -3.94% at 34.34, has been
downgraded by Merrill Lynch to “neutral” from “buy”.
Financial services company
H&R Block
(
HRB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -8.57% at 40.55, has been downgraded by Goldman Sachs
to “underperform” from “in-line”.
Morgan Stanley has downgraded
the wireless telecoms sector to “cautious” from “in-line”, and has downgraded
Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.88% at 36.40, to “equal-weight” from “overweight”,
though has upgraded BellSouth
(
BLS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.50% at 23.70, to “overweight”
from “equal-weight”.