This Is What Greenspan Is Concerned About
After a
rocky day yesterday, stocks are lower today.
Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan gave an optimistic short-term outlook on the
economy but is concerned that Bush is recklessly driving up the federal
deficit. His main concern is that if the market remains weak, household
confidence will suffer, with detrimental consequences for spending. Jobless
claims numbers fell to pre-recession levels at 380,000. Cisco
(
CSCO |
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PowerRating)
yesterday announced higher first-quarter sales, earning $618 million net. Sales
rose 5.3% to $5.1 billion.
The Dow Jones Industrial
Average
(
$INDU.X |
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PowerRating) is down -0.24% at 9795.64. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
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is down -0.14% at 1050.21. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) is up +0.11% at
1961.20.
The day’s leading sectors are
Nasdaq Combined Finance Index
(
$OFINX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), 0.91%, Oil Service
Sector
(
$DJR.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.51%, Combined Computer Index
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.46%, Biotech Index
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.41%,and, GSTI Multimedia
Ntwk Index
(
$GIP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.37%.
Weak today are GSTI Internet
Index [GIN.X|GIN.X] -2.56%, Dow Jones
Internet Index
(
$ECM.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -2.03% and Amex Gold Bugs
(
$HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.90%.
Economic news releases for
today included Initial Claims of 348K, and Prelim-Productivity of 8.1%,
10-year Notes are -135
at 111 125.
The dollar
is +.21 at 94.03.
Gold is -0.11 at 381.40.
Crude Oil is -0.03 at
30.27.
Volume is 622,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 1,005,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by 1.23 and down over up volume
by 1.51; Nasdaq declining issues over advancing issues at 1.34, and up volume
over down volume at 1.21.
Top Dow stocks are:
Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
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PowerRating),
1.06% at 38.36, Disney
(
DIS |
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PowerRating),
+1.08% at 22.50, United Tech [UTX|UTX],
+0.6% at 87.04, Eastman Kodak
(
EK |
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PowerRating),
+0.32% at 24.55, and Hewlett Packard
(
HPQ |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.25% at 24.32
Stocks in the news:
Clothing retailer Gap
(
GPS |
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PowerRating)
rose 6% on news of higher same-store sales and net income forecast. Same-store
sales were up 1% and the company expects to earn 26 – 28 cents a share for the
third quarter. Sales for the quarter was up 17% to $73.7 million.
Calpine
(
CAL |
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PowerRating)
announced plans to issue $1 billion in senior notes in an attempt to repurchase
debt. CAL is down 6%.
News Corp
(
NWS |
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PowerRating)
revenue grew amid strong DVD sales for the first quarter. Revenue
came in at $4.65 billion, up from analyst consensus of $4.37 billion. Net income
grew to $401 million, up from $214 million last year.
XM Satellite Radio
(
XMSR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported a third-quarter net loss of $145.6, up from $114 million the past
quarter. Revenue was up 385% to $24.8 million, and its net subscriber base
increased 34% over the last quarter to over 900,000.
Banc of America raised its
price target for Qualcomm
(
QCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to $53 after QCOM raised its
12-month earnings target. For the fourth quarter, it reported $291 million on
revenue of $909 million
If you have any comments or questions, please
feel free to email me.
kaig@tradingmarkets.com